The 2026 Canadian Grand Prix grid will have a Racing Bull between the two Ferraris and ahead of a Red Bull. Isack Hadjar, the rookie Red Bull have already moved into their senior pathway conversations, qualified seventh at Montreal, splitting Lewis Hamilton in P5 and Charles Leclerc in P8 — and beating four-time world champion Max Verstappen in the process.
Hadjar had announced his form earlier in the session. He set the fastest time in Q2 with a 1:12.9, and repeated it on his final run in Q3. Of the three drivers commonly grouped as rookies in 2026 who made it to Q3, Hadjar was the quickest, ahead of Arvid Lindblad and Franco Colapinto.
Veteran analyst Peter Windsor framed the head-to-head between Hadjar and Verstappen as a study in why the 2026 cars are tilting the balance of the grid.
"Max Verstappen not happy at all, it seems on the race. It's quite difficult to understand exactly what he was saying, but what I think he's complaining about is his top speed being down on Isack Hadjar," Windsor said.
The numbers backed Verstappen's mood up.
"On the lap that he did his quickest time, slightly quicker than Isack, Max's highest speed on the straight was 327, and Isack Hadjar was 330. So three km/h. That would be enough to annoy Max Verstappen," Windsor said.
"You can see where he's getting wound up and what's going on there. This is all to do with harvesting and what strats they run throughout the lap, and they have to try to change the strat just before the braking point going into the last corner," Windsor said. "All these new things, a function of these 2026 regs. The drivers are spending most of their time, well at least half the time, probably faffing around on the steering wheel making sure they're in exactly the right strat at exactly the right moment."
For Hadjar, the lap was further confirmation of his trajectory. He has spent the year quietly outperforming his car. Saturday's session put him ahead of one of the senior Red Bull, ahead of a 2026-spec Ferrari driven by Leclerc, and inside the top eight on a circuit where overtaking is at least theoretically possible.
The story is less comfortable on the Ferrari side. Leclerc, despite getting clear air for his Q3 lap — he had told his engineer over the radio that all he wanted was clear air — could not match Hamilton, and finished ahead of only the bottom two rows of the grid.
The wet forecast for Sunday adds an extra layer of unpredictability. So does the cold. Track temperatures fell by around 10 degrees on Saturday, and several drivers struggled to get the front tyres into their working window. That, Windsor argued, is another factor that opens the door for drivers like Hadjar.
"It's one of these black art mystery things about how some drivers can get the tires to work when the temperatures are cold, others can't," he said.
If Hadjar can hold a Racing Bull in the points at Montreal in the rain, his case for a Red Bull seat — already strong — moves from quietly compelling to formal.
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*Originally published on [News Formula](https://newsformula.one/article/hadjar-splits-ferraris-canada-qualifying-verstappen-330-kmh-2026). Visit for full coverage.*
