Isack Hadjar admits concern over “weird” Red Bull seat before 2026 promotion

Isack Hadjar has revealed that he had concerns about the second Red Bull seat before signing with the Milton Keynes outfit, but that impressing in his rookie season and earning the promotion was always his plan.

The French-Algerian driver joined Racing Bulls in 2025 for his debut season in Formula 1. He finished the year 12th in the drivers' championship with 51 points and secured his maiden F1 podium at the Dutch Grand Prix, which was enough to impress Red Bull. He signed as four-time champion Max Verstappen's team-mate for 2026.

Red Bull has struggled with its second driver in recent years. Liam Lawson replaced Sergio Perez in 2025, but lasted only two race weekends before he was replaced by Yuki Tsunoda. The Japanese driver remained in the position until the end of 2025, but now serves as a reserve driver after Hadjar claimed the full-time seat.

"I really enjoyed it, I must say," Hadjar told F1 when asked about his quick trajectory from Racing Bulls to Red Bull. "Coming back to pressure, I felt OK. Of course, I felt very stressed at the start of the year, I didn't have much mileage in F1.

Isack Hadjar, Racing Bulls Team

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

"I was like, 'It's big. It's the biggest championship. It's the last year of this regulation, so everyone is flat out. I have the pace. Am I going to be three-tenths behind? Am I going to struggle to catch up?' But actually, it never happened like that. I was straight in the rhythm. And I must say I just enjoy it a lot.

"I knew that if I did the job naturally, I would get the seat, the promotion, and to be honest, that was my target starting the year. I was like, 'I'm going to take it step by step blah blah blah'. That's what I was saying, but in fact I wanted to have a big, big rookie season, step into the Red Bull, and that was it."

When asked if he had any concerns about the second seat at Red Bull, the 21-year-old driver added: "Of course I did in a way because you look at the gaps between Max's team-mates and you're like, 'Wow, this is weird,' but at the same time I'm realistic."