Isack Hadjar is feeling his inexperience as a Formula 1 driver ahead of the Frenchman debuting with Racing Bulls and one ‘stupid’ challenge stands out as the season nears.
The Paris native is the 80th Frenchman to feature on an F1 entry list thus far. He will even be France’s 72nd driver to race in the pinnacle of motorsport when Hadjar takes the start of the 2025 Australian Grand Prix on March 16. Pierre Gasly was France’s last new F1 racer in 2017.
Hadjar will debut in Formula 1 with Racing Bulls as a product of the Red Bull Junior Team. He joined the energy drinks brand’s esteemed driver academy in 2022, preceding Hadjar sealing third in the Formula Regional Asian Championship in 2022 plus second in Formula 2 in 2024.
Isack Hadjar faces a ‘stupid’ challenge to learn Racing Bulls’ 2025 F1 car
New Sauber driver Gabriel Bortoleto beat Hadjar to the 2024 F2 title by 22.5 points – thanks in part to the Racing Bulls rookie stalling on the final grid of the term for the Feature Race at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Also, Hadjar spun after losing the lead in Qatar in the Sprint Race.
But the chance to graduate to Formula 1 with Racing Bulls materialised for Hadjar after Liam Lawson replaced Sergio Perez at Red Bull. Now, the scale of the challenge the 20-year-old faces at Racing Bulls is becoming clearer for Hadjar ahead of flying out to the Australian GP.
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Having only previously appeared in Formula 1 race weekend sessions with four FP1 gigs with Red Bull and Racing Bulls over the past two seasons, Hadjar admits one ‘stupid’ challenge as a rookie will be to learn the VCARB02 the Frenchman and Yuki Tsunoda will race this season.
Hadjar told RACER: “It’s stupid but just the car itself. I’m really new to it, I haven’t been part of a race weekend yet. The speed of that thing… To be fair, I don’t have much mileage in the car. I’m really new, still.
“Also, for me, discovering new tracks is going to be really tough – especially in Sprint weekends. China is coming up really quickly. I don’t know the layout and then straight into qualifying, so it’s adding a bit of pressure.”
The F1 Sprint at the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix will show what sort of driver Isack Hadjar is
Hadjar will start his journey as a Racing Bulls driver during the only official pre-season test in Bahrain over February 26, 27 plus 28. Then the 2025 Formula 1 campaign will commence on March 16 with the Australian Grand Prix, followed by the first F1 Sprint of the term in China.
The 2025 Chinese Grand Prix weekend on March 21, 22 plus 23 will pose a real challenge for Hadjar if the Parisian is still uneasy with Racing Bulls’ car and has not established a basic feel for the Shanghai International Circuit on their simulator. He has never raced in China before.
Sprint weekends only have one 60-minute practice session, offering Hadjar very little time to learn the track before going into qualifying. Another test even follows in round three as while Hadjar is looking forward to the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix, he has never raced at Suzuka.
