Formula 1
Who is Racing Bulls' new F1 driver Isack Hadjar?
Isack Hadjar is the new Racing Bulls recruit after Sergio Perez’s Red Bull exit. Here's all you need to know about F1's next French talent
Sam Hall
Published: Dec 20, 2024, 10:10 AM
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Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing RB20
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
Having been signed by Racing Bulls for the 2025 Formula 1 season, Isack Hadjar had very much been in and out of the conversation as speculation surrounding Sergio Perez’s Red Bull future mounted. With Liam Lawson always viewed as the most likely candidate to step up and replace the Mexican after he took Daniel Ricciardo’s RB ride midway through 2024, the opportunity for new blood presented itself.
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In a twist few would have seen coming ahead of the campaign, Hadjar found himself battling primarily with Williams driver Franco Colapinto for the RB opportunity, after the Argentine stepped up in place of Logan Sargeant ahead of the Italian Grand Prix and put in a series of impressive performances.
Unable to influence Colapinto’s results from the F2 paddock, Hadjar was given added motivation to clinch the title in the direct feeder series to F1, but he missed out on this accolade to new Sauber driver Gabriel Bortoleto following a season-long tussle.
But with Campos, Hadjar was able to take more race wins than any other driver across the F2 campaign, with all four of his victories coming in the longer feature races. Had it not been for a virtual safety car at the worst possible moment in Monaco, he would have added a fifth success to his name.
Isack Hadjar, Campos Racing
Photo by: James Sutton / Motorsport Images
Hadjar will race alongside Yuki Tsunoda at Racing Bulls in 2025, so has an experienced hand to learn from in terms of both understanding the team and getting to grips with F1 as a whole.
Who is Isack Hadjar?
Hadjar is a 20-year-old French-Algerian driver from Paris. He also becomes one of very few modern F1 drivers to reach the top tier without recording a single championship title – a statistic which does a disservice to his obvious talent behind the wheel.
When he competed in karts between 2014 and 2018, Hadjar’s most successful period came in 2016 when he finished second in the cadet class of both Coupe de France and Challenge Rotax Max France.
Making the step into cars at the end of 2018, Hadjar first raced in the Ginetta Junior Winter Championship with Elite Motorsport, but failed to score a point. Single-seaters followed in 2019 as he entered the French F4 Championship, with his first victory coming in only his seventh race – the first of three outings at Spa-Francorchamps. He would add a further two podiums to his name en route to seventh in the overall standings.
Following an entry into the F4 UAE Championship in the winter months, Hadjar returned to his home country where he would this time accumulate three wins and 11 podiums, and finish the year in third.
2021 saw progression into continental competition in the form of Formula Regional European with R-ace GP, yielding wins in Monaco and Monza. In this field, he established rivalries with Paul Aron, Zane Maloney and Colapinto – drivers with which he would continue to climb the ladder. Bortoleto also debuted in FRECA that year, but finished 15th while Hadjar was fifth, scoring 122 points more than the future F2 champion.
Isack Hadjar, Hitech Grand Prix, 1st position, on the podium
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Hadjar joined the F1 support paddock in 2022, registering three wins as he finished fourth overall in his sole F3 season. This was the same year that he became a part of the Red Bull junior programme.
Concluding his junior pathway with two years of F2 competition, Hadjar initially raced with Hitech before switching garages for Campos for 2024. All four of his race wins came in the latter season following a first year that featured just one podium appearance.
In 2024, Hadjar was promoted into a reserve driver role with Red Bull and RB. Across 2023 and 2024, he made four FP1 appearances for AlphaTauri/RB and Red Bull.
Hadjar has “shown enough” for F1
Hadjar completed his final FP1 outing for Red Bull ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the same weekend the F2 held its championship-deciding event.
Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing RB20
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
While his F2 campaign ended on a sour note as he stalled on the line in the feature race, the new Racing Bulls driver believes that he has nothing left to prove in the junior category.
“To be fair, I think I've shown enough in F2 now,” he said in Abu Dhabi. “What is coming Saturday and Sunday won't affect my my future. I really want to bring the title for me, for my team.
“Honestly, right now, I just really want to win this championship so bad. It's been a tough season for me, a lot of lows, but still we're in the fight, and I want to bring it.”
Rounding out the year, Hadjar took part in the post-season rookie test, driving alongside Yuki Tsunoda in the Red Bull. He completed 125 laps, and finished 15th fastest.
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