Isack Hadjar reveals what surprised him about racing Lewis Hamilton during his rookie F1 season

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Isack Hadjar was one of the surprise rookies of the 2025 Formula 1 season. There wasn’t too much expectation for him to perform, but he did so well that Red Bull promoted him for the new season.

There will be some level of familiarity for the Frenchman when he links up with ex-boss Laurent Mekies for the first time in Milton Keynes. They know the 2026 F1 regulations are a mammoth task.

But Hadjar is now somewhat aware of how to generate success at the highest level. He had 24 races to iron out any problems last year.

Now it’s time for him to deliver in a Red Bull car – a moment he will have been building towards for some time.

Will Isack Hadjar suffer the same fate as Pierre Gasly at Red Bull?

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Hadjar’s greatest ‘strength’ is consistency, according to Johnny Herbert, and that’s something that will serve him well at a top team.

He now has one of the toughest jobs in Formula 1. Hadjar must show he can cope when Max Verstappen beats him, otherwise, he could very quickly become another second-seat casualty.

READ MORE: Isack Hadjar admits his ‘expectations’ were ‘too high’ for his abilities before Red Bull promotion

Isack Hadjar battled Lewis Hamilton in ‘more races’ than he expected in 2025

Helmut Marko gave Hadjar ‘multiple’ warnings about managing his expectations before he left the team at the end of 2025.

He wants him to succeed alongside the imperious Verstappen, which is a feat that very few have ever managed to do.

Growing up as a Lewis Hamilton fan, the prospect of fighting against one of his heroes might have been more exciting than anything he could have achieved last year.

His podium in Zandvoort was great, but Hadjar told the Talking Bull podcast of how he was actually caught out by how much he encountered the seven-time champion on track.

“There has been actually more races than I thought, where I was racing him,” he said. “It’s always a scenario where he’s actually taking my position. He’s just got more race pace, he’s in a faster car.

“But, still, it has been quite good to have like moments where I’m outbraking him, he’s getting me back, and I’m like, ‘I get to race the guy I always looked up to.’ It’s very sick.”

READ MORE: Red Bull are ‘convinced’ of one thing about Max Verstappen’s 2026 F1 car ahead of pre-season testing

Why it’s hard for Red Bull to create expectations for Isack Hadjar in 2026

Hadjar has to ‘live with’ Red Bull favouring Verstappen, and accept that beating him will be incredibly difficult.

On his day, he has the raw talent to beat the Dutchman, but as many who have been in his position before have mentioned, he cannot expect to be on top from day one.

It’s unrealistic. It’s Red Bull’s job to help guide him through the process properly and avoid ruining his racing development.

Being fast-tracked to the top can be harmful – just ask someone like Alex Albon or Pierre Gasly. Now that they have their own engines, too, along with a new set of regulations, 2026 is impossible to predict.

Who knows if Red Bull will be at all competitive? That’s a big reason why it would be unfair to set any expectations for Hadjar at this early stage, other than to be as close to Verstappen as possible.