From Dubai Autodrome to Verstappen’s teammate: The meteoric rise of Isack Hadjar

It has been a year of rookies in Formula 1, for not since 2010 have six young guns taken the wheel in the same season. While Jack Doohan’s stint with Alpine did not last long, being replaced by Franco Colapinto after just six races, the other five — Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli, Haas’ Ollie Bearman, Red Bull’s Liam Lawson, Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto and the man of the moment, Racing Bull’s French-Algerian driver Isack Hadjar — have delivered with varying degrees of success.

For 21-year-old Hadjar, who, only four years ago, was honing his skills at the Dubai Autodrome and at the Yas Marina Circuit in the F3 Asian Championship with Evans GP team and in the Formula Regional Asian Championship with Hitech Grand Prix team, this season could not have ended any better after being chosen on Tuesday to partner his childhood hero Max Verstappen in Red Bull for the 2026 season. It is a truly meteoric rise for this young driver of Arab origin from the days of posing next to Verstappen in a viral fan moment six years ago.

The Racing Bulls driver has enjoyed an impressive first season with Red Bull’s junior team, scoring 10 top-10 finishes, including his first podium when he finished third in Zandvoort behind McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Verstappen, and all of that after crashing in the formation lap in his first race in Australia and being reduced to tears.

“After all the hard work I have put in since joining the junior team, it’s such a great reward,” a grateful Hadjar said in a Red Bull statement on Tuesday.

“I’ve had many ups and downs throughout my career and they kept believing and pushing me.

“It’s an awesome move, to work with the best and learn from Max is something I can’t wait for.”

And Red Bull will be hoping Hadjar can solve the perennial problem of Verstappen’s partner. After releasing Sergio Perez at the end of last season, Red Bull began 2025 with Lawson at the wheel but the New Zealander lasted only two races before being supplanted by Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda.

New challenges

Since then however, Tsunoda has scored just 33 points in the world championship compared with Verstappen’s 396. And with Japanese engine maker Honda ending ties with Red Bull from next season — the Milton Keynes-based team will build their own engines with technical help from Ford — it was widely expected that Tsunoda’s run in Formula 1 would be cut short sooner rather than later.

As for Hadjar, the promotion to race alongside the formidable four-time world champion will come with its challenges. The whispers in the world of Formula 1 are that Red Bull builds is car to specifications that suit Verstappen’s on-the-edge style of driving and is therefore more difficult to control compared to the Racing Bulls.

But if anyone has proven that theory wrong, it is Racing Bulls’ new recruit for the 2026 season, 18-year-old British driver Arvid Lindblad. He’s already had some F1 experience after driving for Red Bull in practice sessions this year in Britain and in Mexico, where, helming Verstappen’s car, he posted the sixth best time of the session.

And young Hadjar will take heart from that as he looks to break the curse of Red Bull’s second seat next season.

Story by Gulf News