{"id":37348,"date":"2025-09-04T09:21:53","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T13:21:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=37348"},"modified":"2025-09-04T09:21:53","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T13:21:53","slug":"hadjar-i-still-dont-see-the-point-of-joining-red-bull-mid-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/09\/04\/hadjar-i-still-dont-see-the-point-of-joining-red-bull-mid-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Hadjar: I still “don’t see the point” of joining Red Bull mid-season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Isack Hadjar<\/a> was one of the main winners from last weekend’s Dutch GP, taking his first F1 podium with VCARB.<\/p>\n

The 20-year-old capitalised on a strong qualifying and Lando Norris’ retirement to clinch his first silverware in Formula 1.<\/p>\n

With his market value at an all-time high, Hadjar is inevitably being liked with a promotion to Red Bull.<\/p>\n

However, it is increasingly clear that joining Red Bull<\/a> this year would not necessarily be an upgrade.<\/p>\n

This is something the Frenchman is conscious of, downplaying the logic of joining the main team in 2025.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Oscar Piastri, Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar in Zandvoort, Netherlands. (Photo by Sam Bagnall\/Sutton Images) \/\/ Getty Images \/ Red Bull Content Pool<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Isack Hadjar still reluctant to join Red Bull<\/h2>\n

At the beginning of the season, Hadjar was asked if he felt ready for a Red Bull seat.<\/p>\n

His response was unequivocally no, with the Frenchman enjoying the predictability and consistent pace of hit VCARB 01.<\/p>\n

Considering that Tsunoda<\/a> (who was faster than Hadjar at VCARB) was experiencing difficulties at Red Bull, this was perfectly logical.<\/p>\n

Hadjar was also boosting his market value by outperforming Liam Lawson – whilst avoiding the stain of a difficult spell alongside Verstappen.<\/p>\n

Fast-forward to today, the 20-year-old has continued to cement himself as a top prospect.<\/p>\n

Although Lawson was actually beginning to secure better results than Hadjar before the summer break, this fact will now be largely overlooked.<\/p>\n

As the younger driver with better results (and yet to suffer a tough Red Bull stint) Hadjar is in a stronger position.<\/p>\n

Whilst Red Bull are still evaluating Tsunoda, the narrative is obviously now very positive for the VCARB driver.<\/p>\n

Despite this, Isack Hadjar still doesn’t want a mid-season move<\/a>:<\/p>\n

“At the start of the year, you were asking me if I was feeling ready to jump in the Red Bull this year – and the answer is still ‘no’.<\/em><\/p>\n

“I don’t see the point of doing that right now,” <\/em>he told the media in Monza.<\/p>\n

“But 2026 is a different question, because it’s a brand new start for the team. There won’t be this talk of a ‘second car’ thing.<\/em><\/p>\n

“This won’t be a thing because it’s a brand-new car for everyone.<\/em><\/p>\n

“You actually will be in a phase where you need to direct the car into the right direction, so I think this is actually interesting.”<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar in Zandvoort, Netherlands. (Photo by Mark Thompson\/Getty Images) \/\/ Getty Images \/ Red Bull Content Pool<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A different story for 2026<\/h4>\n

There are still a lot of key factors that will determine Red Bull’s next steps with their drivers.<\/p>\n

Team principal Laurent Mekies has given consistent vocal support to Yuki Tsunoda<\/a> since taking charge at Milton Keynes.<\/p>\n

Given Mekies’ previous time with Tsunoda at VCARB, this is not necessarily a surprise.<\/p>\n

Like the rest of the grid, who saw the Japanese driver excelling until he joined Red Bull, Mekies is not ready to discard Tsunoda.<\/p>\n

Because of this, the 25-year-old still has some time to prove himself at Red Bull.<\/p>\n

The Austrian team’s preference for 2026 is continuity, especially in the context of a tumultuous last few years.<\/p>\n

With that said, Hadjar is now positioning himself as a credible alternative if Tsunoda falls short.<\/p>\n

From Hadjar’s perspective, the majority of the hard work is already done.<\/p>\n

Red Bull see him as part of their plans for 2026, whether at the main team or at the second team.<\/p>\n

The question is whether Tsunoda can build on his P9 in Zandvoort and score points consistently at Red Bull.<\/p>\n

Hadjar, much like Red Bull<\/a>, would rather avoid another mid-season swap.<\/p>\n

As a result, it will be a few more months before the team’s plans for the future become clear.<\/p>\n

Main photo: Joe Portlock\/Getty Images (Red Bull content pool)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Isack Hadjar was one of the main winners from last weekend’s Dutch GP, taking his first F1 podium with VCARB. The 20-year-old capitalised on a strong qualifying and Lando Norris’ retirement to clinch his first silverware in Formula 1. With his market value at an all-time high, Hadjar is inevitably being liked with a promotion […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4927,"featured_media":37213,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[2452,1750,2245,78],"class_list":["post-37348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1","category-news","tag-f1-2025-season","tag-isack-hadjar","tag-racing-bulls","tag-red-bull-racing"],"modified_by":"Jaden Diaz-Ndisang","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4927"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37348"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37349,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37348\/revisions\/37349"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}