Helmut Marko believes Isack Hadjar is ‘certainly’ one of the ‘big surprises’ of the F1 season so far, and his rookie results at Racing Bulls could lead to a drive at Red Bull.
The 20-year-old only secured his seat on the grid in December after Red Bull promoted Liam Lawson from their junior team to replace Sergio Perez. Yet Hadjar has shown he deserved to step up from Formula 2, and is often overshadowing Lawson since his return to Racing Bulls.
While Lawson is still yet to score a single point this term, with a best finish of P12 in his two Grands Prix for Red Bull and also in his five with Racing Bulls so far, Hadjar has seven points. The Frenchman was P8 in the Japanese Grand Prix plus P10 in Saudi Arabia and P9 at Imola.
Helmut Marko sees Max Verstappen in Isack Hadjar’s ability to unlock an F1 car’s speed quickly
Hadjar has hugely impressed Red Bull motorsport adviser Marko with his rookie results with Racing Bulls so far in the 2025 F1 season. The Parisian has also made Q3 three times and he is yet to be eliminated from a qualifying session in Q1, whereas Lawson has been four times.
Only once has the Red Bull Junior Team product truly dropped the ball when Marko branded Hadjar ‘embarrassing’ for crying after crashing in Australia. He spun out on the formation lap at Turn 2 in the rain after qualifying in P11 for his F1 debut and he only missed Q3 by 0.063s.
READ MORE: Who is Racing Bulls 2025 F1 driver Isack Hadjar? Everything you need to know
But above his impressive response to a heartbreaking debut, Marko admires how Hadjar has often unlocked the potential of Racing Bulls’ car within a handful of laps. The Austrian thinks Hadjar’s knack of understanding his car is also the same as Max Verstappen with Red Bull.
Marko told sport.de: “Hadjar is certainly one of the big surprises. He was fast from the start, except for his slip-up in the first race. Like Max, he’s on the ball after three laps, even though he wasn’t familiar with most of the tracks.
“Unfortunately, Racing Bulls didn’t make the right strategic decisions again in Imola. Hadjar could have finished sixth.
“He’s been in Q3 every time [and] in the points every time. Unobtrusive, unspectacular, but incredibly fast. With more practice, it’s clear he could be a contender [to join Red Bull].”
Isack Hadjar could replace Yuki Tsunoda at Red Bull in 2026 ‘with more practice’
Such is Marko’s appreciation for what Hadjar has produced through his first seven rounds as an F1 driver that he feels the Frenchman only needs ‘more practice’ to cement his case for a seat in the main Red Bull team next year, with Yuki Tsunoda facing an uncertain future there.
Red Bull replaced Lawson with Tsunoda after the first two rounds of the 2025 season. Yet he only has a contract for the rest of this term and, despite being an improvement on the Kiwi, the Japanese gem is still far away from replicating what Verstappen can deliver in the RB21.
Tsunoda has earned seven points since his promotion to Red Bull, which is even the same as Hadjar has scored with Racing Bulls in the same period. His regular deficits to Verstappen, in qualifying especially, have seen Red Bull list Hadjar as an option to replace Tsunoda in 2026.
Red Bull boss Marko is not the only big admirer of the Racing Bulls prospect, as well, as even Lewis Hamilton names Hadjar as his ‘favourite’ 2025 F1 rookie. Also, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner admits Hadjar has exceeded his expectations, potentially helping his cause.
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