Lando Norris
McLaren
Mercedes
Red Bull
Ferrari
Williams
Racing Bulls
Aston Martin
Haas
Alpine
Red Bull have developed a reputation for a quick turnaround time for Max Verstappen’s teammates, and Isack Hadjar has candidly recalled the fears he had for his debut campaign for the Austrian constructor following his crash at the first F1 test of pre-season.
For Isack Hadjar, the pre-season for the 2026 campaign began in a similar way to how his rookie F1 term began: with a costly crash before racing had even begun.
Last year, Hadjar’s misfortune came on the formation lap of the Australian Grand Prix. Tricky conditions saw the youngster crash out before making his way around the circuit and onto the grid, and his day ended in tears.
This year, however, disaster struck on the second day of F1’s shakedown in Barcelona.
Hadjar found the barriers during some laps in wet weather, which severely left Red Bull on the back foot as they rushed to send replacement parts from Milton Keynes over to the Catalan-based circuit.
Name the race that Isack Hadjar will claim his first F1 win at 👇
Let us know in the comments below!
Isack Hadjar thought his ‘whole season’ was over following Red Bull crash during F1’s Barcelona shakedown
With the current week of pre-season testing in Bahrain offering Hadjar a chance of redemption for his mistake in Montmelo, the Frenchman opened up on his immediate thoughts following the shunt.
He told journalists, including Sky Sport Germany, “When I had the accident, I immediately thought about Pierre [Gasly].
“So I went on Twitter and read all the comments, and I thought to myself, ‘Now the whole season is over for me,’ and that’s how I got over it, to be honest.”
Red Bull protected Hadjar in the aftermath of the crash by focusing on the positive elements of the 21-year-old’s performances in the RB22 that day.
It showed a clear difference in the way that the Milton Keynes-based team operates with Laurent Mekies at the helm, following Helmut Marko’s scathing assessment of Hadjar’s crash in Melbourne last year.
Hadjar put up an impressive 86 laps during his first full day of testing in Sakhir, ending the second day with the fifth fastest time on the grid.
His benchmark was around two seconds off the pace of Max Verstappen from the day prior, but the Frenchman was likely on a completely different testing programme to the one that his Red Bull counterpart was on.
- READ MORE: Felipe Massa tells Isack Hadjar why he’ll have a much easier time at Red Bull than Liam Lawson
Bahrain testing day 2 belongs to Charles Leclerc
What was your main takeaway from today? 🤔
F1 fans were also reminded of Pierre Gasly following Isack Hadjar’s shakedown shunt
Ironically, the rest of the F1 world shared a similar sentiment to Hadjar’s first thoughts after his crash in Barcelona.
F1 fans couldn’t help but be reminded of Gasly after news of the shunt broke on social media. Hadjar’s compatriot crashed twice during pre-season testing for Red Bull in 2019, and he ended up lasting just nine races once the term officially began.
What’s more, even some Red Bull staff were reminded of Verstappen’s former teammate.
It’s a sign of maturity in Hadjar that he can open up on the incident, which was clearly a tough few days for him.
He is hoping to become the first teammate of Verstappen’s to actually succeed at Red Bull, so clearing the first hurdle that was thrown at him is certainly a positive start.
Receive exclusive F1 news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
