Isack Hadjar Shines on His Grand Prix Debut for Red Bull

Praise doesn’t get much better than the accolades heaped upon Isack Hadjar by Helmut Marko when asked to evaluate his first day at school, marking his full grand prix debut for Racing Bulls in Australia. Unlike the hype surrounding Andrea Kimi Antonelli or the promising cameos of Oliver Bearman, Hadjar, a 20-year-old F2 runner-up, arrived at Albert Park with only 400-odd laps in an F1 car under his belt. But far from being a rabbit in the headlights, Hadjar has laid the groundwork for a solid weekend.

Navigating the Pressure and Media Scrutiny

On Thursday, Hadjar got his first taste of his newfound status as an F1 driver as he passed through the famous Melbourne Walk, a corridor lined with passionate fans eager for autographs and selfies. Despite taking over 20 minutes to get through this short stretch, Hadjar arrived in the paddock just in time for his first meeting. In his subsequent media session, Hadjar made a relaxed impression despite being a reluctant interviewee.

While not a keen public speaker, Hadjar was not a man feeling the pressure. “I feel the pressure I put on myself to perform,” he said, “but external pressure will always be a bit lower than that.” The pressure of getting to F1 is more difficult, he added, because now he’s in F1, he will be judged only by his performance within the team.

Focusing on Performance and Adapting to the Car

To ensure Hadjar could focus on what matters without too many distractions, Red Bull tried to isolate him from the noise outside. After an early breakfast, Hadjar joined team-mate Yuki Tsunoda at the F1 fan forum for a scheduled fan interaction, but by 11:00am his focus was fully on the driving side, attending a final engineering meeting for stepping into the car for FP1.

Despite Albert Park being a tricky circuit for a debutant, Red Bull decided to follow its normal run plan without making any sort of changes to bring Hadjar in gently. While other rookies took longer to get up to speed, and Haas colleague Bearman crashed out of first free practice, Hadjar seemed comfortable enough in the VCARB 02 to get straight on the pace, clocking 25 drama-free laps to finish ninth.

This trend continued in FP2 where he claimed sixth, two and a half tenths behind Tsunoda in fourth, albeit with RB cars that appeared light on fuel and are expected to slip back towards – and likely behind – the pace of the Williams cars in the midfield. Members within the engineering team were impressed with the precise feedback and mature focus Hadjar displayed, and his solid start to life as an F1 driver didn’t go unnoticed within the wider Red Bull family.

Laurent Mekies, Red Bull’s team principal, was also pleased with what he had seen – from both drivers – although nobody at RB is getting carried away by the timesheets just yet. “It was a good day,” he said, “especially with Isack being a rookie here, with all the pressure, a city track, rain coming for Sunday… it’s a lot to go through.” He added that Hadjar is still very much in an early phase, but he did a good job. Yuki Tsunoda was also at ease during the day, giving them a good baseline. But don’t read too much into the lap times.

Naturally, Hadjar’s efforts on Friday are of no use if he then puts it into the wall in Saturday’s Q1. But the 2025 rookie who has been talked about the least – and comes with a temperamental reputation – quietly got on with the job and got off to the best start.