Johnny Herbert pinpoints the greatest ‘strength’ Isack Hadjar will bring to Red Bull in 2026

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A fresh start for Formula 1 means that 2026 presents the best opportunity for a second Red Bull driver to get close to Max Verstappen in a long time.

Isack Hadjar has a massive task ahead of him in his second campaign to assist a four-time champion and his new team in their pursuit of more success.

That doesn’t mean challenging for the drivers’ championship himself, but being able to play a pivotal role in race strategy will go a long way.

Red Bull will be hoping that their latest graduate can reach a level of performance that will save them the headache of having to replace him for 2027. It’s a problem they’ve had for years.

Does Isack Hadjar have the right mindset for his promotion to Red Bull in 2026?

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Hadjar’s ‘expectations’ of himself were too high at times during his rookie season. The more pressure he puts on himself, the harder he makes his job.

Before his departure, Helmut Marko gave Hadjar multiple warnings and reminded him that believing he can be world champion right away is not the right approach. He has to build up to it.

READ MORE: Red Bull told ‘the big question’ Isack Hadjar must answer after they repeated Liam Lawson mistake

Johnny Herbert thinks Isack Hadjar’s biggest ‘strength’ is his consistency ahead of Red Bull debut

Liam Lawson could put ‘pressure’ on Hadjar in 2026, but it will demand some excellent results, as well as a few slip-ups from the Frenchman.

That’s something he didn’t really do last year. In fact, it was one of his strengths, and being consistent is one of the things that Johnny Herbert thinks leaves him in good standing for his new opportunity.

“If I do what he achieved last year,” he said on The Race’s Stay On Track podcast. “He showed probably one of the strongest strengths – consistency. That consistency was there in qualifying, he was always sort of sixth, seventh, eighth, there or thereabouts for the majority of the season.

“But he was also able to get points consistently as well. He was consistently ahead of Lawson, who had that little bit more experience. He probably wasn’t someone that was on the tip of people’s tongues when he was doing F2, strangely enough. He had a good time in F2, [but] never won the championship.

“But I think he surprised so many people, probably including myself, because I did like his work ethic within the team, which was to just keeping on pushing,” Herbert continued.

“He seemed to be able to be the one that was giving them the information that they needed to be able to produce what he was producing on the race track. That’s a strength that he can take to Red Bull, for sure. But that’s exactly what Max is thinking in a much bigger, bigger way.”

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

How Red Bull could have avoided promoting Isack Hadjar so soon

Hadjar must learn how to ‘live with’ Red Bull favouring Verstappen, but he might not have been in this situation at all had they planned for the future a little better.

Last year, they had the chance to sign Carlos Sainz and truly figure out whether their second driver woes were down to car design or making the wrong choices.

In a bid to avoid conflict and keep their number one driver happy, they opted against doing that. It has now meant that Hadjar has had just one year to prepare himself for the toughest gig in the championship.

He’ll learn quickly that being Verstappen’s teammate is a bit of a rollercoaster ride, but if he can get on top of it, the reward could be huge.