Isack Hadjar is one of five rookies on the Formula 1 grid and Motorsport Week sat down with the young Racing Bulls star during his first pre-season test on the Grand Prix scene.
Hadjar was the last addition to the 2025 F1 grid, the final piece in the Red Bull F1 puzzle that was re-jigged following the dismissal of Sergio Perez and Liam Lawson graduating to the senior team.
Perhaps, the French-Algerian graduates to F1 with the lowest profile among the five rookies. Lawson is barely a rookie, well established thanks to his two stints at the Faenza-based Racing Bulls outfit in 2023 and ‘24. Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli was touted all year-long as Lewis Hamilton’s replacement until that was made official during the Italian Grand Prix and Haas’ Oliver Bearman burst onto the F1 scene with that remarkable one-off race for Ferrari in Jeddah last March. Even Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto comes into F1 with the pedigree of reigning Formula 2 champion, a crown that cruelly slipped through Hadjar’s fingertips.
Being part of the large rookie crowd “highlights the fact that our generation is really strong,” Hadjar believes. “And we are skilled. And I’m happy to race guys I’ve raced in the past. I know how they behave, how they race. So it makes it easier.”
Hadjar has had limited simulator and testing compared to the likes of Alpine’s Jack Doohan, another of F1’s five rookies, but he certainly made up for last time during F1’s three-day pre-season test, clocking a total of 243 laps of the Bahrain International Circuit, second only to Haas’ Esteban Ocon. He’s also had a taste of the limelight through F1 75, creating a viral moment and a host of comedic social clips with new team-mate Yuki Tsunoda.
F1 75: Hadjar’s viral reaction to the Racing Bulls livery
Those latterly mentioned media commitments are the biggest change for Hadjar, a graduate of the Red Bull junior programme who has eight race victories in three seasons across F2 and Formula 3. But as anyone who follows Racing Bulls on social media will know, Hadjar has become somewhat of a lip syncing expert when filming content with Tsunoda.
“When it’s not stepping on my, let’s say, it’s not impeding me to do what I want to do, I’m happy with that,” he says of his media commitments. “Otherwise, it’s a bit tough.”
So far, the biggest impression Hadjar has made off-track was at the F1 75 launch event at London’s O2 Arena. There, he and Tsunoda pulled the covers off of the VCARB02 to reveal a stunning white and blue Red Bull livery that shocked the watching world and Hadjar himself. His look of shock quickly became a viral sensation across F1 digital media and Hadjar admits that moment was all a genuine response.
“I saw the car on my phone, but I’d never seen the livery,” he said. “Even at the factory, the car was naked, so I couldn’t tell how it was looking properly on a real car. And looking at it, I was like, it’s f***ing cool. Of course. Yuki, he started it, [the now famous photo]. He posted it, posted my face like this. And yeah, it was not on purpose. It was a really genuine reaction, so it’s good.”
First impressions of F1
That viral moment for many would have been their first introduction to Hadjar as he becomes one of the 20 global F1 superstars. For the young man himself, however, the most important aspect is being behind the wheel of an F1 car. A handful of FP1 sessions and post-season test aside, his F1 running has been limited. When Motorsport Week spoke to Hadjar in Bahrain, he’d had one four-hour session of running in the VCARB02 in Sakhir and his initial impressions were succinct, and to the point.
“It’s f***ing fast,” he said. “At the moment, that’s all I can give you as a feedback. I don’t have much experience in F1. I don’t know what’s a mega car. If it should be like a McLaren, I don’t know how it’s supposed to behave. I don’t have an idea. So for me, this is fast.”
Hadjar’s test went as well as can be expected for a rookie with limited F1 experience. His aforementioned lap-count will no doubt pay dividends as he continues to adapt and his pace was comparable to Tsunoda’s on the first two days. Hadjar said he feels comfortable in an F1 cockpit.
“Even looking at my session [on Wednesday], I felt comfy with everything,” he said. “It doesn’t feel like it’s the first day. I’m adapting really fast and ready to keep going.”
Moreover, in response to whether he’s a fast learner, the self-assured Hadjar said “Otherwise I wouldn’t be here.”
Measuring up against Yuki Tsunoda
Learning will be key for Hadjar’s progression and he has Tsunoda on the other side of the Racing Bulls garage to help guide him. Tsunoda is now a Faenza expert who lives in Italy to keep his bond with the team strong, one that is entering its fifth year.
Hadjar recalls meeting Tsunoda for the first time at Suzuka, when the Japanese ace was still in F3 and from that point on, witnessing his fellow Red Bull junior take the same path he has just traversed.
“Obviously, being in the junior team, you see him stepping up to F1 and basically followed everything he did,” Hadjar said of his team-mate. “So I always rated him and now to be his team mate is good. He’s a really good guy as well. Now we get along fine.”
Getting along is one thing but Hadjar knows that measuring up strongly and beating Tsunoda is the only real metric at which success can be measured in 2025.
“He’s the only one having the same car as me,” he said. “So at the end of the campaign, he’s the only one I can compare to and it’s no surprise that I want to be faster. But you have to be realistic as well. Starting the season, I have no experience at all. So I would have to keep my head down and just learn from him.”
That learning curve means traversing the globe on a 24-race calendar where Hadjar will experience circuits for the first time in an F1 car or altogether. Looking ahead, he revealed which venues he’s looking forward to most.
“Japan, in an F1 car. Brazil as well. They are the two tracks I really want to experience. And Monaco in an F1, I think is ridiculous.”
Hadjar is confident in his own abilities and ready to challenge on motorsport’s biggest stage. Short and to the point with his remarks, his focus is on the track and while he might have flown under the radar as the final piece of the 2025 F1 grid puzzle, he’s not there to make up the numbers by any stretch.
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