Frenchman Isack Hadjar (20 years old) will discover Formula 1 next season after signing up with the Racing Bulls team, Red Bull’s little sister, his new Italian team announced on Friday December 20 in a press release.
Vice-champion of Formula 2 this year, the Parisian, member of the Red Bull young driver academy, will team up with the Japanese Yuki Tsunoda and succeeds the New Zealander Liam Lawson, promoted Thursday to the Austrian team alongside the Dutch quadruple world champion Max Verstappen.
“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’m ready to work hard and to do my best for the team”explained Hadjar, quoted in the press release from his new team.
“Isack will follow in the footsteps of Max Verstappen, Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo by becoming the 19th driver to be promoted to Formula 1 since the Red Bull Junior Program, which began in 2001”underlines the text. “This is the moment I’ve worked my whole life for, it’s a dream”continued
72nd French driver to race in F1
Hadjar, who had been tipped for several weeks to arrive in the premier category of motorsport, benefits from the ousting of the Mexican Sergio Pérez, former teammate of “Mad Max”dismissed on Wednesday by Red Bull due to poor results.
He will thus become the 72nd French driver to race in Formula 1 and the third on the current grid with Esteban Ocon (Haas) and Pierre Gasly (Alpine). This is the first time since 2018 that a “rookie” tricolor will be on the starting line at the start of a season.
“Little Prost”
Nicknamed “little Prost” by Red Bull’s influential Austrian advisor Helmut Marko, also responsible for the Austrian team’s young driver sector, the Habs have shown great things this season, notably winning four races and winning eight podiums in Formula 2.
“In fact I analyze a lot when I ride, I use my head. It’s really my universe, it’s my domain and I master it so I allow myself to think about things that don’t disturb me”Hadjar explained to AFP in early December.
A description which brings him closer to Alain Prost, nicknamed “The Professor” because of his intellectual approach to racing. But there is still a long way to go to follow in the footsteps of the four-time French Formula 1 world champion.
Rain of novices
Hadjar also joins other novices since no less than five drivers will appear at the first Grand Prix of the season, mid-March in Australia, with less than four races contested in F1.
Hadjar, the Brazilian Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber), who deprived him of the F2 title, and the Italian prodigy Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) will even compete in their first GP in Melbourne, while the Australian Jack Doohan (Alpine) and the Briton Oliver Bearman (Haas) will participate in their second and fourth races in F1 respectively.
