Isack Hadjar is two rounds into his Formula 1 career but the Racing Bulls prospect believes he already has one trait ‘in common’ with a four-time drivers’ champion.
The 20-year-old graduated to the pinnacle of motorsport this term as Red Bull placed Hadjar at their junior team Racing Bulls upon promoting Liam Lawson. Yet the pair will now become teammates at the Japanese Grand Prix with Yuki Tsunoda taking Lawson’s seat at Red Bull.
Hadjar shaped up well against Tsunoda during their brief spell as partners in Faenza. He was only 0.166 seconds slower than the Japanese star in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix. The Frenchman out-qualified Tsunoda for the Chinese Grand Prix by 0.559s for P7 and P9.
Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar thinks he shares F1 legend Alain Prost’s ‘intellectual approach’
Paris native Hadjar ultimately had a Formula 1 debut to forget in Melbourne but he bounced back in Shanghai to finish the main race 2.488s away from taking a point. Hadjar was in tears after crashing out of the Australian GP by spinning in the rain at Turn 2 on the formation lap.
Hadjar prides himself on the 2024 Formula 2 championship runner-up’s race craft and thinks his racing approach is the same as four-time F1 champion, Alain Prost. His fellow Frenchman won the F1 drivers’ championship at McLaren in 1985, 1986 and 1989 plus Williams in 1993.
READ MORE: Who is Racing Bulls 2025 F1 driver Isack Hadjar? Everything you need to know
| Category | Isack Hadjar | Yuki Tsunoda |
| 2025 points | 0 | 3 |
| Grand Prix results | 1 | 1 |
| Grand Prix qualifying | 1 | 1 |
| Grand Prix wins | 0 | 0 |
| Grand Prix poles | 0 | 0 |
| Grand Prix podiums | 0 | 0 |
| Best finish | 11th | 12th |
| Retirements | 0 | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 0 | 0 |
| Grand Prix points finishes | 0 | 0 |
| Sprint results | 0 | 1 |
| Sprint Qualifying | 0 | 1 |
| Sprint wins | 0 | 0 |
| Sprint poles | 0 | 0 |
| Sprint podiums | 0 | 0 |
He is not alone to make the comparison, either, as Helmut Marko has compared Hadjar with Prost. Red Bull’s motorsport advisor has even afforded the Racing Bulls rookie the nickname ‘Mini Prost’ after the Lorette native who got the nickname ‘The Professor’ for his approach.
“I would say that we have in common the intellectual approach to driving,” Hadjar has told Automoto.it. “There are those who say that I resemble him, that I have the same face [and] the same voice. I don’t know.”
Isack Hadjar must build his confidence to push the limits with Racing Bulls
Prost was renowned for his driving style, with the 70-year-old’s ideal route to a victory being scoring pole position and then famously ‘win the race at the slowest speed possible’. He was not opposed to taking risks on a race circuit, but knew when it was worth pushing the limits.
Hadjar will now hope to balance the risks and reap the rewards in his own Formula 1 career, but proved in the Chinese GP he is not yet ready to push his limits with Racing Bulls. Despite most rivals moving from a two-stop to a one-stop strategy, he refused to demand the same.
READ MORE: All to know about Alain Prost including Ayrton Senna rivalry and failed F1 team
Racing Bulls stuck to their pre-race plans when Pirelli predicted the hard compound tyres in Shanghai would not survive long enough to avoid an extra pit stop. But doing so would see Hadjar fail to score points when the tyres held together thanks to Shanghai’s fresh asphalt.
Speaking after the event, Hadjar explained that he did not challenge Racing Bulls’ strategy in the Chinese GP as it ‘was nothing I could control’. Yet he must build his confidence to believe it is an aspect he can control given the consequences of sticking with the incorrect strategy.
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