Lando Norris
McLaren
Mercedes
Red Bull
Ferrari
Williams
Racing Bulls
Aston Martin
Haas
Alpine
Isack Hadjar is the latest F1 driver to be paired up with Max Verstappen at Red Bull, and the Frenchman is already held in high regard by his team boss, Laurent Mekies.
After his very first race in Formula 1 ended in tears, Isack Hadjar’s rookie season in the sport was one of the most impressive in recent years.
In relatively average midfield machinery, the 21-year-old shone. The main highlight of Hadjar’s season was the podium at Zandvoort, but the Frenchman showed clear talent all season long.
One of the most impressive things about his debut campaign was his one-lap pace.
Hadjar was a regular name in Q3 for the majority of the season, and only exited qualifying in Q1 twice, surpassing the likes of seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.
How many podiums and wins will Isack Hadjar achieve in his first season as a Red Bull driver?
Laurent Mekies highlights Isack Hadjar’s ‘incredible raw speed’
During an appearance on the James Allen on F1 podcast, Laurent Mekies was asked how he plans to protect the 21-year-old from the obvious pressures that come with being Max Verstappen’s teammate.
The Red Bull team principal replied, “Firstly, we are not hiding behind the fact that we need to do a better job with that second car, and that includes the second part of last year.
“I guess we made some progress with Yuki [Tsunoda], but not at the level that we felt we should have reached. So we are aware that we need to do a better job there.
“There is no easy solution, so it’s a complex equation that we approach as such. Now, I think Isack comes with an incredible raw speed. We believe in raw speed.
“We think the level at which he started last year’s season, his starting speed, was outstanding. Outstanding at the level of the very, very best, but then we equally believe that the big guys, the champions, not only do they have an incredible starting point, but they progress.
“It’s not only a progression in maturity or in dialogues with the engineers; they actually go faster. You turn up at race five or race ten, and they start to do something with the car that they have not done before.
“And we saw that in Isack last year at Racing Bulls. We are convinced that the potential is mega.”
Prove me wrong: Red Bull replacing Christian Horner with Laurent Mekies was the best decision they made in 2025
Isack Hadjar is now the benchmark for all Racing Bulls rookies
Following his glittering rookie campaign, Hadjar is now the benchmark for all of the young rookies who make their way through the Red Bull driver development programme and into a full-time seat at Racing Bulls.
His successor at the Faenza-based outfit, Arvid Lindblad, has already been told that he’s not going to be the next Hadjar in what may be a premature verdict on his abilities in F1.
Still, the assessment is a testament to how impressive Hadjar really was in the team.
The Frenchman’s podium last season marked the first time a Racing Bulls driver finished in the top three since Pierre Gasly’s P3 at the 2021 Azerbaijan GP.
Receive exclusive F1 news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
