Racing Bulls boss highlights ‘refreshing’ Isack Hadjar trait that will immediately help Red Bull

Follow us on Google Discover

Nobody quite knows whether a new Red Bull chassis is capable of eradicating their second driver issues in 2026.

For years, Max Verstappen has been the only man capable of driving their cars to victories on a consistent basis, and now they’ve promoted a man with just one year of Formula 1 experience to the team.

Will Isack Hadjar be the answer they’ve been searching for? You’d hope so, but the rest of the quarrel may lie within the 2026 F1 regulations themselves.

Red Bull can’t really reuse anything from the last rule cycle, meaning that for the first time since 2022, everything is new. It’s a chance for them to develop a more rounded car.

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

Comment

Like or Comment

Have your say Sign-in now for free

Hadjar says learning from Verstappen is a ‘huge privilege’, but that isn’t guaranteed to generate better results. Everything needs to come together.

According to Johnny Herbert, Hadjar’s greatest ‘strength’ is consistency, which is something that he’ll need to rely on at a big team like Red Bull. It’s how championships are won.

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

Alan Permane says Isack Hadjar approach will be ‘refreshing’ for Red Bull

Helmut Marko has given Hadjar ‘multiple warnings’ about not expecting to be challenging for the title in his first season with the Milton Keynes-based outfit.

2026 is more about learning than anything, and that goes for him team too. Any new regulations cycle is a big journey to embark on, and his task is to make that an easier process.

His now ex-boss Alan Permane, Racing Bulls team principal, believes that he brings an asset to Red Bull that may be valuable. He’ll look at himself before he blames the car.

“He knows he doesn’t know everything,” he told The Race. “So he’s happy to learn. He’s very self-critical. And I’ve said this many times before – sometimes too self-critical, honestly.

“When things aren’t going well, the first place he looks at is, ‘What can I do better? What should I do better to make things better?’ Certainly, I’ve worked with drivers in the past where their absolute first port call is the car. ‘It must be something with the car. It can’t be me.’ So that’s refreshing.”

Red Bull are ‘convinced’ they need a race-ready car at testing, but many of their rivals are working with delays currently. If they achieve that, they’d be well ahead of a few teams.

READ MORE: Liam Lawson told how he could ‘put pressure’ on Isack Hadjar’s Red Bull F1 seat in 2026

What is going to be Isack Hadjar’s biggest challenge in 2026?

Even though as a second-year driver, Hadjar is going to face a lot more challenges than most people in his position, he has proven that he should be able to overcome them.

It’s very rare that someone ends up changing teams after just one season in a cockpit, unless they’re set to be thrust into a big seat.

Undoubtedly, being Verstappen’s teammate is his biggest challenge, and it’ll be the way that he approaches it that determines how successful he is.

Right now, there aren’t many people in the world that think he can beat him, but it’s not something that can be ruled out. The new regulations might suit him more.