Red Bull’s rising star Isack Hadjar might be eyeing promotion, but team brass isn’t tipping their hand just yet.
The French-Algerian rookie has quickly become one of the paddock’s most talked-about drivers after scoring his maiden podium with a brilliant third-place finish at the Dutch Grand Prix.
That result shot him up the standings, placing him firmly in the top ten with 37 points – a comfortable 17-point advantage over teammate Liam Lawson.
And all this at just 20 years old.
When pressed about Hadjar potentially joining the main Red Bull team next season, team principal Laurent Mekies kept his cards close to his chest.
“We made it very clear, very public, that we have time with our driver decision,” Mekies told GPblog.
Reports suggest Yuki Tsunoda will leave the Austrian team after the 2025 season, potentially opening a seat for Hadjar.
“We have enough drivers between the driver programmes to cover quite a few scenarios for next year, and we don’t have real reasons to rush into decisions,” Mekies explained.
He pointed to Tsunoda’s recent improvements as another factor complicating the decision.
“Yuki has been making a good step in the last three races. We all want more, but he’s doing a good job. He was, for the first time, back in the points after seven races in Zandvoort. He was close enough to Max in Budapest, and had his best qualifying with the team in Spa. So he’s on a positive trend.”
Hadjar’s rapid development hasn’t gone unnoticed. After a rough debut in Australia, he’s steadily improved and now looks like a legitimate candidate for what many call “the hardest seat in motorsport” – being Max Verstappen‘s teammate.
“It’s obviously extremely nice to watch Isack’s progress in the Racing Bulls car,” Mekies admitted. “To see him performing at the level he did in the last race was a fantastic demonstration of how much progress he’s made this season.”
The team seems content to let the situation play out a bit longer.
“We are relaxed about the driver topic, because fundamentally we have all our cards on the Red Bull side, and we can take a few more weeks – or months – to decide,” said Mekies.
“Of course, that doesn’t mean we have to wait until the last race to decide, because we respect that it might impact our drivers one way or another. But for sure, we feel we have time right now.”
