Red Bull’s next talent will take centre stage at Racing Bulls in 2025, following a reshuffle of their driver lineup.
Now that Sergio Perez has been replaced by Liam Lawson it left space for Isack Hadjar to be promoted, after a successful campaign in Formula 2 last season.
The Frenchman went up against Sauber driver Gabriel Bortoleto and although he lost the F2 title in the final round after stalling at the start of the race, he still managed to impress Red Bull bosses throughout the year.
Hadjar took his first visit to the Racing Bulls factory in Emilia Romagna, Italy this week ahead of the pre-season launch and testing.
He is expected to be on the pace from the offset, however journalist Scott Mitchell-Malm thinks he will be under pressure from one driver when speaking on The Race podcast.
Isack Hadjar will be under pressure from Arvid Lindblad
Hadjar will face a tough rookie season given he will be sharing the grid with four other full-time rookies and going up against Yuki Tsunoda in the same team.
Red Bull is also keen to promote Arvid Lindblad, who will be competing in F2 this year and has posted some good results while taking part in the Formula Regional Oceania championship over the winter break.
Lindblad’s continued success could put Hadjar under pressure if he does not achieve results from the offset according to Mitchell-Malm.
“Hadjar is a bit of a wildcard amongst the rookie pack. He feels the least prepared of all of them, he’s the most rough around the edges. He’s quite emotional on the radio and Red Bull is sometimes sceptical about his capacity to handle everything in an F1 situation,” said Mitchell-Malm.
“It will be interesting to see how he fares under Yuki Tsunoda in terms of his one lap and ability on Sundays. Hadjar has got a fair shot but there will start to be pressure from below fairly quickly because Lindblad is rated fairly highly in the Red Bull family and we know how ruthless that organisation can be.”
Isack Hadjar admits he is ‘scared’ for debut season
Hadjar’s arrival to Racing Bulls was almost inevitable given the poor end to the 2024 season for Sergio Perez, although it was not a foregone conclusion.
Red Bull was looking at Franco Colaptino before a series of crashes towards the end of last season put them off the former Williams driver, who has now made the switch to Alpine.
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Hadjar had admitted that he was ‘scared’ to make his F1 debut given the pressure in the Red Bull environment has always been higher compared to other teams.
Helmut Marko will likely be concerned if he is unable to finish inside the points in the first few races, with the threat of Hadjar losing his seat quite high.
