Never two without three. After Esteban Ocon (Haas) and Pierre Gasly (Alpine), in 2025 there will be a third French driver on the starting grids of Formula 1 grand prix: Isack Hadjar. At 20 years old, the young F2 driver for the Campos Racing team was chosen to replace Liam Lawson at Racing Bulls (VCARB).
It’s a game of musical chairs at the Austrian giant which will therefore have benefited the Frenchman, since Lawson, the former partner of Yuki Tsunoda on the Racing Bulls side, will become Max Verstappen’s teammate within the parent team at following the departure of Sergio Pérez, not retained.
Hadjar, who came 2nd in the last Formula 2 world championship, was part of the “Red Bull Junior” program, a development tool for young drivers which has revealed some illustrious names, such as Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen, Carlos Sainz, Daniel Ricciardo or Pierre Gasly.
“Liam’s departure to Red Bull Racing and Isack’s arrival at VCARB demonstrates our long-standing commitment to developing the best young drivers in motorsport, and proves the merits of the Red Bull junior program. said Racing Bulls CEO Peter Bayer in a press release relayed by Formula 1. Having a younger driver supports our mission to appeal to a younger audience, and we look forward to taking the new fans and existing fans in the journey with us.”
“I am very enthusiastic about taking up my new role,” said Hadjar. Being in Formula 1 is the moment I’ve been striving for my whole life – it’s the dream. I feel like I’m entering a whole new world, driving a much faster car and racing with the best drivers in the world. It will be a huge learning curve, but I am ready to work hard and do my best for the team. »
While Esteban Ocon, not renewed by Alpine, joined Haas and Pierre Gasly was joined by Jack Doohan at Alpine, France will therefore have three French representatives in F1 for the first time since 2020, and the presence of Romain Grosjean at the alongside the two former teammates. For his part, Isack Hadjar will have as his first teammate the Japanese Yuki Tsunoda, 12th in the last world championship. “I look forward to working with Yuki and learning from him,” responded Hadjar. I always admired him, he came through the Red Bull junior program, like me, and we followed the same path to F1. He is very experienced and it will be good to learn from him. »
