Isack Hadjar told he could face ‘worst’ case Red Bull promotion scenario that set Alex Albon up for failure

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Racing Bulls driver Isack Hadjar is heading to Monza on cloud nine after a perfect Dutch Grand Prix.

It was looking like the beginning of a really difficult weekend for Isack Hadjar as a power unit issue in his Racing Bulls car meant he didn’t complete a lap in FP2.

That didn’t stop Hadjar from putting in one of the most impressive laps seen this season, as he beat both Ferrari drivers and George Russell to line up alongside Max Verstappen on the second row.

The Frenchman then executed the perfect race, and after Lando Norris’ late mechanical failure, he was promoted onto the podium for the first time in his short F1 career.

Lewis Hamilton congratulated Hadjar, as did the majority of the Formula 1 grid, highlighting his popularity among his fellow drivers.

What’s potentially more exciting for Hadjar is that his performance at Zandvoort has only increased calls for him to replace Yuki Tsunoda at Red Bull next year.

Former Alpine chief Marcin Budkowski believes that Red Bull could end up in a scenario where they promote Hadjar in similar circumstances to Alex Albon, which ultimately set the Thai driver up for failure, despite his obvious talent.

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Budkowski was speaking about Hadjar’s future on the F1 Nation Podcast, and had concluded that Red Bull need to look after him by leaving him at Racing Bulls for another year.

He followed this up and said: “I think that’s the reasonable decision to make and keep Yuki as a baseline for the new generation of cars and see whether that car is more drivable and whether he can get closer to Max.

“I’m not sure that that’s what Helmut and Laurent will do.

“But also let’s not forget that Red Bull has never been shy of changing drivers in the season.

“So they could very well start with Yuki for four or five races and decide to put Isack in there.

“I think that would be the worst for Isack, to be honest, because then you don’t have all the winter for preparation with the new team, with a new set of engineers etc.

“But hey, we’ve seen so many things with the guys at Red Bull that I wouldn’t exclude that.”

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What went wrong for Alex Albon at Red Bull before his stunning Williams comeback

Red Bull are never afraid of a mid-season driver change, and a swap between their two teams wouldn’t be the most surprising course of action.

Verstappen made his Red Bull debut in 2016 at the Spanish Grand Prix, winning the race after stepping into Daniil Kvyat’s seat after four races.

In 2019, Pierre Gasly was promoted to the Red Bull senior team to replace Daniel Ricciardo, but he lasted only 12 races.

Up stepped Albon in his rookie F1 season, and he finished between fourth and sixth in every race until the end of the campaign, aside from the Brazilian Grand Prix, when he was taken out by Lewis Hamilton.

However, the following year, Albon struggled to match Verstappen, appearing to be too inexperienced to be able to cope with the pressure of delivering the results Red Bull expected.

He was jettisoned at the end of the year for Sergio Perez, but the mid-season switch and lack of experience he had certainly played its part.

Now, the Thai driver is leading F1’s midfield with Williams, and Albon has little interest in a Red Bull return.

Red Bull must be wary not to repeat the same mistake again with another driver who is proving to be extremely talented.