Who is Isack Hadjar? The driver 'next in line' for Red Bull F1 seat

The Frenchman’s first race victory came at Spa-Francorchamps and another visit to the podium came again at the Circuit de Lédenon. It was a solid first campaign in cars for Hadjar, as he finished seventh in the drivers’ standings – spurring confidence for a run at the title the following year.

2020 saw Hadjar make another leap in ability as he became a regular sight at the front of the field, often battling for race victories against future co-Red Bull junior Ayumu Iwasa.

All told, in all but four of the 21 rounds, Hajdar finished now lower than sixth; finished third four times; finished second four times; and won three races at Paul Ricard.

“One of my favourite races was in French F4 in 2020, I started the race from 14th on the grid and made my way up to 2nd,” Hadjar later recalled. “It was at the Paul Ricard circuit, where it’s not so easy to overtake but went up to 4th after a few laps with crazy overtakes, took the fastest lap and overtook for second in the late stages of the race.”

2020 also saw Hadjar take part in eight rounds of the UAE F4 championship, where he finished no lower than seventh.

Turning heads in FRECA 

2021-2022

Hadjar made another move up the motor sport ladder in 2021, moving into a FRECA (Formula Regional European Championship) seat with R-aceGP.

Again, he proved an instant sensation, finishing seventh on debut before quickly finding his feet and establishing himself as a force to be reckoned with.

In only his fourth race in Barcelona, Hadjar finished third. But at the very next round in Monaco, his racing life changed forever.

“I won in Monaco,” said Hadjar. “For the first time in the season, I dominated. I had a great start and started pulling away after 2 laps setting fastest laps almost every single lap to create a gap of 6 seconds just before the Safety Car. Had a great restart and pulled another gap of 7 seconds, I just had so much fun as I had the Monte-Carlo streets just for me for 30min!”

The stunning performance turned the head of Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko, who immediately signed Hadjar to the Milton Keynes outfit’s prestigious young driver programme. Even with that added pressure, the Frenchman continued to impress, winning again at the season finale in Monza – a result that secured fifth in the drivers’ standings over Franco Colapinto.

2021 also saw Hadjar take part in nine rounds of the F3 Asian Championship, where he scored five podium finishes and finished sixth in the standings.

In 2022, Hadjar moved up to the FIA Formula 3 Championship with HiTech Racing and made another great first impression: winning on debut in Bahrain sprint. Against a field which contained the likes of Oliver Bearman, Victor Martins, Zane Maloney, Arthur Leclerc, Jak Crawford, Zak O’Sullivan, Juan Manuel Correa and Caio Collet, Hadjar proved a near-constant threat to the top step of the podium and ultimately finished an impressive fourth in the drivers’ standings – just 16 points behind eventual winner Martins.

“2022 was by far my best racing season in my small career, I learnt so many things throughout the year,” Hadjar told RedBull.com.

“I didn’t expect to be fighting for the championship until the very last race, but the hard work we’ve put in got rewarded from the first races. Then after taking the championship lead, the second half of the season was not ideal with mistakes from our side (Spa and Monza) that cost us the championship…”

“But what I remember was that we were always rapid and on a pace side we were the most consistent.”

Hadjar also competed in the Formula Regional Asian Championship through 2022, and against stellar opposition – which included Arthur Leclerc, Pepe Martí, Gabriele Minì, Dino Beganovic and Paul Aron – he continued to impress: winning two races, securing three podiums and finishing third in the drivers’ standings.

Formula 2 and title contention

Hadjar’s rapid ascension through the motor sport ranks continued in 2023, as Red Bull promoted him into Formula 2 — again with Hitech GP.

For the first time in his young career, the Frenchman seemed to struggle for consistency and he ultimately finished 14th in the drivers’ standings. But there were still standout performances along the way, including sixth-place finishes in Melbourne and Zandvoort, fifth-place finishes at Silverstone, the Hungaroring and Yas Marina and a podium finish at the Red Bull Ring.

Keen to push Hadjar’s natural ability to its limits, Red Bull gave him his first taste of Formula 1 in Mexico City, where the Frenchman drove FP1 for RB.

In 2024, Hadjar returned to F2 with a bang. He switched teams, moving to Campos Racing, and his trajectory continued on the sharp upward curve that had originally marked him out as a Red Bull talent of the future.

He bagged his first F2 victory at the feature race in Melbourne, which was quickly followed by other race wins at Imola, Silverstone and Spa. Accompanying podium finishes in Monaco, Austria, Hungary and Qatar meant he was also in contention for the title, with just 0.5 points separating him and Gabriel Bortoleto heading into the season finale in Abu Dhabi.

But in a heartbreaking turn of poor fortune, Hadjar’s title chances died with his engine on the starting grid of the feature race.

“I remember after Jeddah when I had like five points on the board and Zane (Maloney) had probably 60 and I knew this season was my last shot for Formula 1,” said the Red Bull junior.

“I had this pressure of having to deliver and clearly, after Round 2 it was: ‘How am I even going to start being on the podium and scoring points when I literally had all of the pace in the world, but these failures and technical issues I had were not allowing me to unlock the podiums and momentum?’

“I always kept my head down and from Melbourne, I had a really strong run. Never give up, basically.”

Now it looks like that persistence could pay off for Hadjar.