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Isack Hadjar reckons Formula 1’s massive rule changes for 2026 will eliminate talk about Red Bull’s second car problem as it will be “way easier” to step into its main team then compared to now.
Having dropped Sergio Prez at the end of 2024, and his replacement Liam Lawson after just two races this season, Red Bull’s search for Max Verstappen’s long-term team-mate is ongoing.
Yuki Tsunoda has been underwhelming since replacing Lawson and Red Bull is now seriously considering promoting Hadjar - who only made his F1 debut this year.
But he has been the most impressive rookie of 2025 and scored his first F1 podium in last weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix.
Speaking at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza just a few days later, Hadjar made no attempt to hide the fact that a 2026 promotion is “obviously something that I have in mind” and “there’s nine [races] left to prove I can keep doing a very good job”.
Hadjar has not personally had conversations with Red Bull’s bosses about 2026 and while he expects they could start soon, he says he is “not in a rush”.
But in addition to openly targeting the seat, Hadjar has a theory for why stepping up to Red Bull Racing in 2026 will be “way easier” with a complete regulatory reset, as F1 introduces brand new cars and engines next year.
“To be honest, at the start of the year, you were asking me if I was feeling ready to jump in the Red Bull this year - and the answer is still no,” Hadjar said.
“Because I don't see the point of doing that right now.
“But ‘26 is a different question because it's a brand new start for the team.
“There won't be this talk of the second car thing. This wouldn't be a thing because it's a brand-new car for everyone.
“You will be in a phase where you need to direct the car into the right direction. So no, I think this is actually interesting.”
Red Bull’s problems with its second seat stretches back well over a year, to giving Perez a new two-year contract early in 2024 only to pay him a significant amount of money to leave the team at the end of the season.
Everything that’s happened since even led to Perez taking a little dig at the whole saga around his official unveiling as a 2026 Cadillac F1 driver, when he declined to say much about Red Bull’s driver crisis because “the results speak for themselves”.
Promoting Hadjar after just one season in F1 would risk repeating the fates of Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon, Lawson and Tsunoda - all of whom were rushed in alongside Verstappen, and struggled to adapt.
But Hadjar is right that his circumstances would be quite different.
Of his predecessors, Gasly got a full pre-season in 2019 - but crashed twice - while Albon stepped in mid-season then had a strange first full year with Red Bull as he completed pre-season testing but the COVID-19 pandemic put the start of the championship on hiatus.
Lawson took part in pre-season testing this year but it was only a three-day test and his running was curtailed by reliability. Tsunoda, obviously, took over his seat once the season had begun.
Should Hadjar get promoted, he would have an extensive pre-season programme as part of the new rules, with there being one private test that teams can run for three days at in January, then two more in February.
So, in addition to the fact the cars will be extremely different and therefore could move away from the characteristics that have been so tricky for anyone but Verstappen to master, Hadjar would have a significant advantage in terms of track time to get up to speed.
Only Perez has benefitted from a rules reset as Verstappen’s team-mate, and the introduction of the new 2022 cars gave him a clear boost compared to his 2021 form, when he had joined Red Bull at the end of the previous rules cycle.
And while he regularly struggled thereafter to keep up with Verstappen as each car was developed through the season, it may be no coincidence that only Perez has managed to survive life at Red Bull for any meaningful amount of time.
Asked by The Race if he had any reservations about the Red Bull seat, Hadjar replied: “No, I want to drive for the best team and that's all I want really.”
And he is not concerned about Verstappen driving the development of the 2026 on his own at the moment, reiterating his belief that new rules mean a clean start for car design but also for drivers because there would be no preconceived ideas on his part either.
“If I happen to be alongside him then I would be adapting to a car that's changing, but at least I'd be there,” Hadjar said.
“So I wouldn't be used to something. I can drive the car that's underneath me.”
