Enzo Fittipaldi was reportedly on the cusp of racing in Formula 1 for Red Bull’s junior team only to be axed from the programme in a decision one of his backers still doesn’t understand.

Fittipaldi, the grandson of two-time Formula 1 champion Emerson Fittipaldi, was initially a member of Ferrari’s Driver Academy before swapping to Red Bull.

Fittipaldi out, Hadjar in?

It was during his time with the Milton Keynes’ squad that he knocked on Formula 1’s door, putting in the laps in an AlphaTauri during a private test in 2023.

However, shortly after he lost his place in the Red Bull academy, a decision that still perplexes Pedro Boesel.

“Last year,” Boesel, an advisor to Fittipaldi, told Motorsport.com, “Enzo had a meeting with the top brass at Red Bull.

“He was called to this meeting and there they said that they had chosen him to drive for AlphaTauri this year, for RB. He tested the Formula 1 [car].

“It happened there after the Silverstone race [in July 2023], it was a private test, right there in Europe. From there, he won the race in Spa [in Belgium], he had a double podium: he won the race on Saturday, and was third on Sunday.”

But despite his rich run of form, Red Bull cut ties with the Brazilian while retaining Ayumu Iwasa and Isack Hadjar.

“And for some reason,” he continued, “Red Bull decided to send, of the six drivers in the program – Enzo, who was the second best in F2, Iwasa was the best – they sent the second, the third, the fourth and the fifth out of the academy and kept the last one, which is Hadjar.

“Nobody understands it, but it is what it is.”

How the F1 grid is shaping up

👉F1 2025 driver line-up: Who is already confirmed for the 2025 grid?

👉F1 2026 driver line-up: Lewis Hamilton and other drivers already confirmed for 2026

Hadjar, who finished the 2024 Formula 2 season as a runner-up in the championship, could make his Formula 1 debut next year depending on Sergio Perez.

According to speculation in the paddock, should Red Bull decide to drop Perez, it will be Liam Lawson who joins Max Verstappen at the senior team with a spot then opening up at Red Bull’s junior team, Racing Bulls.

That would go to Hadjar.

He reckons he’ll have an answer in the coming days, telling the media in Abu Dhabi: “I mean, there’s obviously confirmed and yet to be confirmed, right?

“So, obviously, I literally can’t tell you what I’m doing next season, because it’s not been [made] official.”

Read next: Sergio Perez’s exorbitant ‘buyout sum’ as Red Bull stand-off continues