The 2025 season gave us six rookies in F1 after a long, long time. Out of all the rookies one has shined brighter – Isack Hadjar!
With only one DNF at the very first race of the season, where veterans like Carlos Sainz and Fernando “the Rookie” Alonso also found themselves unable to keep control of their cars. Isack Hadjar has proven to be a fighter, a matador, a warrior out on track. He has proven to be a great challenge to the likes of George Russell, Charles Leclerc at Zandvoort. A track which these rookies at for the first time!
Isack Hadjar started out in racing at the age of 7!
Isack Hadjar, a French – Algerian, raised in Paris, he started out in karting at the age of seven and climbed from Junior Formulae in 2019, to F4 in 2020. He then moved onwards to F3 in 2022, and won his way into F2 by 2023!
His successes in F2, as he finished 2nd behind Gabriel Bortoleto in his second season in F2, earned him the nickname “le Petit Prost”.
Isack was promoted to Racing Bulls at the start of this season in F1. And he has proven to be better than both his teammates – Yuki and Liam.
Isack shined especially bright at Zandvoort
Hadjar drove an exceptional qualifying lap! He placed himself 4th on the grid right behind Max Verstappen. As the race started Isack had George Russell and Charles Leclerc nipping at his heels, but he made his VCARB car as wide as the track itself and none got by him.
The first safety car was brought on by Lewis Hamilton losing grip and crashing at Turn 3, which caused Charles Leclerc to fall behind George Russell. He eventually caught up with him and overtook him to set Isack Hadjar in his sights. But Isack proved too tough to beat for the Monegasque.
Later on, when Kimi Antonelli decided to overtake Charles and cause Leclerc trauma, and bring out another safety car, George Russell found himself closing the gap to Hadjar.
But even then, Isack held on to his track position, defending lap after lap at Turn 1. Finally, after the last Safety Car brought on by Lando Norris’s engine failure, Russell was extremely close to Hadjar.
But Isack’s car was as wide as the track itself for Goerge Russell, as he couldn’t manage to make an overtake even with a better, faster car and the experience to go with it!
Does this mean Isack Hadjar is RedBull Racing material?
Rumours have been going around that Isack Hadjar is up for a promotion next year to the main team, to RedBull Racing. That begs the question – Is he RedBull Racing material?
Well, all the drivers who have been promoted to the top seat since Daniel Ricciardo left RedBull, have not managed to give Max Verstappen any fight. Especially in the last year, as well as this year. But could Isack Hadjar actually prove to be good enough to race alongside Max Verstappen and prove to be a challenge to the Dutch Lion?
Well, if you take the Dutch GP’s pace by Hadjar, the answer is yes. Isack really drove a great race in Zandvoort. He kept faster and more experienced drivers behind him and still managed to get within touching distance of the 4x World Champion himself!
Maybe Isack Hadjar is the correct choice for RedBull Racing next year!
What actually happens still remains to be seen. But we all know now that the “le Petit Prost” is not one to be trifled with.