Racing
© Jonathan Borba
Isack Hadjar said his 2025 rookie Formula 1 season was always about earning a Red Bull promotion, even as he knew the scale of the challenge that comes with becoming Max Verstappen’s team-mate.
Speaking to F1.com, the 21-year-old said his first year with Racing Bulls was never just a learning exercise. Hadjar finished 12th in the 2025 drivers’ standings with 51 points and took his first podium with third at the Dutch Grand Prix, results that helped secure his move to Red Bull for 2026.
“I knew if I did my job properly, I would get the seat, the promotion. To be honest, that was my target for the year,” Hadjar said. He added that despite his public line about taking things step by step, his real objective was simple: produce a very strong rookie season and move up to Red Bull.
That ambition came with obvious doubts. Verstappen’s recent team-mates have struggled badly against him, and Hadjar admitted he was fully aware of that record before taking the seat.
“Of course I did in a way, because you look at the gaps between Max’s team-mates and you are like ‘wow, this is weird’,” he said. But he argued that the reset under the new regulations gives him a fair chance. “It’s a new regulation, we have the same car, if I believe I’m good, I’m good and that’s the end of the story.”
His confidence stands out against Red Bull’s recent difficulty in locking down its second car. Liam Lawson replaced Sergio Perez in 2025 but lasted only two race weekends before Yuki Tsunoda took over for the rest of the season. Tsunoda is now the team’s reserve driver after Hadjar claimed the full-time seat.
Hadjar said the pressure of stepping into one of the biggest teams on the grid does not feel new to him. He traced that mindset back to karting, saying he has spent his career in situations where he had to keep proving himself rather than relying on dominant machinery.
“It’s always been constant pressure and I always had to prove something,” he said. Hadjar added that outside expectations matter less than the standards he sets for himself, because “not disappointing me is the biggest thing.”
Even so, he said the promotion still feels surreal. “Signing is a first step. It’s a big step,” Hadjar said, before reflecting on the road that got him there. Looking back on the pressure he had to handle to reach Red Bull, he said he is “still pinching myself” to be working at one of Formula 1’s biggest teams.
That mix of ambition and realism is what now defines Hadjar’s next step. He chased the Red Bull seat from the start, accepted the Verstappen comparison that comes with it, and now has to show he can succeed where the team’s recent second drivers have not.