F1's newest kid on the block

A quarter of the 2025 Formula 1 grid is made up of drivers who have not held a full-time seat before, and they boast a combined four grand prix starts between them. Add Liam Lawson to that list as he embarks on his first full campaign, and the count goes up to 30%. And the fact that Lawson is going to be driving for Red Bull ensures he will have a huge amount of attention on him. Kimi Antonelli will similarly receive plenty of scrutiny at Mercedes, while expectations surrounding Ollie Bearman are high after his three outings last year, and Jack Doohan has the shadow of Franco Colapinto looming at Alpine. All of that, somewhat strangely, leaves the two Formula 2 title rivals from last season with the least pressure. But that’s all relative, and while Gabriel Bortoleto has the promise of a long-term future at Audi, Isack Hadjar is the latest off the Red Bull production line to be tasked with establishing himself at RB. Hadjar was the final of the 20 drivers to be confirmed for this season; Red Bull making his promotion official on December 20, just 86 days before lights out in Melbourne. It led to a whirlwind first month for the French-Algerian. “I was really tired, I was sick,” Hadjar tells RACER from Paris. “I had lots of prizegivings… you have no idea, I was, like, dead, and my holidays were not even 10 days, basically, since Abu Dhabi. So there was a lot going on. But I’m rested and trained now, so I’m fine. I’m good to go. “I did my camp in Qatar, in Doha, with my new trainer, and it was the right place to do it, to be fair. It was sunny, good weather, good everything, so I enjoyed it. I got back up to speed fairly quickly.” Speaking of getting up to speed, Christian Horner claims Hadjar was faster than Yuki Tsunoda in the Red Bull car when the pair tested alongside each other in Abu Dhabi last month, saying he turned heads with the performance. “He’s definitely a raw talent — he needs a little bit of polishing, but he has the speed,” Horner added. Even so, that didn’t mean Hadjar was certain his chance in F1 would come, as the situation around Sergio Perez’s future needed to be resolved in order to potentially open up an RB seat to him. “You never know. I mean, we’re talking about an F1 seat, right?,” Hadjar says. “There’s a lot going on, and I was… you’re not stupid, you’re aware of what’s going on, but I really found out in the end really late. I was never sure about what was going on. I was mainly focused on winning that damn (F2!) title! But no, it actually took a while.” The F2 title never materialized: Bortoleto secured the crown in the final race. While it still clearly hurts Hadjar, the 20-year-old says there was a lot he learned about himself across the course of a championship-contending year. “I would say I did myself pretty proud,” he says. “I felt really good under pressure, delivering under pressure, and winning when the car could win. I really felt like I maximized all the opportunities. I just basically can count the amount of mistakes I’ve done throughout the year . “If you look at my Hitech F2 season, it was just a disaster, you know? Just the improvement within a year was good. That was the main thing. “I think I was strongest just mentally. I remember two rounds in, I was 45 points away from the leader. You know it’s your last shot to get to F1. The picture is clear – you’re a bit in trouble at this point. “Going to Melbourne, I got a double win, and that basically started my championship campaign. I was really strong in the really low moments, and that’s how I basically survived.” Mental toughness is something that all drivers need, but particularly when making the step up from junior categories where they’re used to winning, to F1 where the car might limit them to intermittent points at best. Hadjar is unconcerned by the potential competitiveness of the RB this year, but sees other challenges that he’s going to be faced with early in the season. “I’ve always had this approach of getting in the car thinking I know I don’t have the fastest car. That’s been the case for me forever, since go-karts. I’ve always hard to work hard, and just having to maximize what I have underneath me is really natural to me. So it’s not going to be weird when Leclerc puts it on pole, and I don’t. I don’t mind. “It’s stupid, but is just the car itself. I’m really new to it, I haven’t been part of a race weekend yet. The speed of that thing… To be fair, I don’t have much mileage in the car. I’m really new, still. “Also, for me, discovering new tracks is going to be really tough, especially in Sprint weekends. China is coming up really quickly, I don’t know the layout, and then straight into qualifying, so it’s adding a bit of pressure.” The Parisian at least feels some of that pressure subside knowing he will be one of multiple drivers in a similar boat this season. And among them, Lawson has been entrusted with a Red Bull seat for his first full year. Regardless of whether the team is able to provide the environment for the New Zealander to succeed or not, it shows it is willing to give young drivers opportunities extremely quickly, and Hadjar only sees that as a positive. “I’m going to try to perform quickly for myself, really,” he says. “The Red Bull seat is obviously the target – it’s to be in the best car. When it’s going to come, I don’t know. And I’m just going to do my best to learn quickly. “I think it’s amazing. Since F3, basically, they see you, they believe in you, and then make you do the next step. I just feel like the program is working really, really well.” But for all the excitement around rookies stepping up in 2025, there are two things that Hadjar is most looking forward to this year, and they represent some of the sport’s more iconic aspects. “Honestly, racing in Japan – that’s going to be the coolest thing,” he says. “And being on track with Lewis in a Ferrari is cool as well!”