Isack Hadjar has credited Racing Bulls with helping make the “huge steps” in a short space of time in Formula 1, ahead of his promotion in the Red Bull family.
Hadjar’s meteoric rise in his debut season impressed fans and the Red Bull hierarchy alike, and was handed the task of partnering Max Verstappen in 2026.
The announcement ended months of speculation, with Hadjar finally being confirmed to replace Yuki Tsunoda, who moves down to a reserve and development position.
Naturally, there will be some pressure on Hadjar, particularly given many of his predecessors in the much-maligned second Red Bull seat have floundered once sat in it.
Like most of them, Hadjar has gone through the natrual progression of being nurtured through its junior programme, and educated in the satellite Faenza-based squad.
And speaking to select media including Motorsport Week at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix earlier this month, Hadjar praised the team for helping him take those first steps.
“I couldn’t have wished a better team to start my F1 career with,” he said. “They’re just used to form kids, basically.”
Hadjar also gave credit to Pierre Gasly, a fellow Red Bull alumni, for his help in adjusting him to F1 before the season began.
“I owe it to Pierre. We spent most of the winter together,” he explained. “I had my head like this before going to Bahrain. That’s where the job was done.
“That’s also why I got used to it very quickly. I adapted very quickly to it.
“As a driver outside the track, I’ve made huge steps.”
Hadjar reveals first-ever FP1 left him confident F1 would be no high bar
Hadjar has gone a personal journey from a driver that appeared perhaps nervous and shy out of the car to a full Red Bull driver in just one year.
His initially anxiety came from a total lack of experience, but realised quickly that he would be able to adapt.
“It’s… Yeah, probably confidence. You know, it’s…You’re going to F1 with very limited mileage and the only test I’ve done, I was like, ‘wow, this is very fast. It’s very hard to adapt’,” he revealed.
“Clearly, I need more laps before Melbourne. That’s the only feeling I had and I was like, what if I’m just slow? I can’t push this car to the limit because I’m just lacking experience.
“Yeah, I told myself this for a while and after the first couple of races, I was like, ‘yeah, OK, I got this. It’s going to be easy’.”
Despite his maiden weekend ending in an embarrassing formation lap crash, Hadjar knew from the first outing at Albert Park that weekend that F1 would not be too high a bar for him.
“There’s been a few moments,” he said, when asked if there was specific occasions he realised F1 was not beyond hin.
“I would say FP1 in Melbourne, straight away I was in the pace. Because I was fast. I was like, ‘yeah, OK. Actually, I got this’ and that was maybe my first points in Japan. On a very tough track.”
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