Who is Isack Hadjar, the new French Formula 1 driver?

It’s official, in addition to Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly, Formula 1 will welcome a third French driver from next season. Young Isack Hadjar will replace Liam Lawson in the Racing Bulls seat, after Red Bull announced the departure of Sergio Pérez and the promotion of the New Zealander alongside Max Verstappen.

Born on September 28, 2004, Isack Hadjar is originally from Paris. Influenced by his father, a former amateur driver, he started karting at the age of 6 in Seine-Saint-Denis, far from the spotlight. After a few years in the French fold, he participated in the European Championship in 2018.

A year later, the Frenchman won the Winfield steering wheel at just 14 years old, previously awarded to Théo Pourchaire, and began his single-seater adventure in the French F4 championship. He finished his year in seventh position, having notably obtained a victory.

He was renewed for a second season in French Formula 4, making a short detour to the Middle East during the winter to race in F4 UAE. After a more successful second campaign in the French championship, resulting in a third place in the standings and 233 points scored, Hadjar entered the European regional formula the following year, in 2021.

During the winter, he participates in the Asian Formula 3 championship to prepare for his European season. He achieved five podiums in nine races, facing experienced drivers, committed and winning in Formula 2 like Zhou Guanyu or Jehan Daruvala.

In FRECA, Hadjar demonstrated his talent by scoring points in his first race and reached his first podium during the second round. The Frenchman stands out in particular in the streets of Monaco, after a victory which will turn heads, notably that of Helmut Marko.

The start of the Red Bull adventure

In 2022, Isack Hadjar joins the Red Bull junior program. With the support of the Austrian team, he entered F3 with the Hitech team. He won his first race in the opening event in Sakhir, taking advantage of a penalty imposed on Oliver Bearman. Throughout his campaign, Hadjar is in the fight for the title with Bearman and Victor Martins.

He ultimately finished fourth in the championship, but his performances, which accumulated three victories and five podiums, caught the eye of Christian Horner, the boss of Red Bull, and made the Frenchman an increasingly serious candidate for a possible future in Formula 1. .

For the 2023 season, Hadjar moves up a level and starts in Formula 2, still with Hitech. However, his campaign is more complicated than expected and he ranks 14th with a victory and 55 points to his credit.

It was that same year that the Frenchman entered a Formula 1 for the first time by participating in the first free practice session of the Mexican Grand Prix under the colors of AlphaTauri (today VCARB and Racing Bulls in 2025) and that of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, this time with the main team in the single-seater of Max Verstappen.

The following year, Hadjar left Hitech and took the risk of joining the Campos team. A bold choice which paid off since the Frenchman immediately claimed victories with success in the third and fourth events, in Melbourne then Imola.

He seizes the head of the standings at Silverstone and plays for the title until the last round of the season against McLaren and Fernando Alonso’s protégé, Gabriel Bortoleto, but loses any chance of the title after stalling at the start of the main race in Abu Dhabi. Despite the numerous reliability problems and the few errors that punctuated his campaign, Hadjar finished the year with four victories, eight podiums and 192 points scored.

In 2024, he will also participate in two Formula 1 free practice sessions with Red Bull, at Silverstone and Abu Dhabi. After the tenure of Liam Lawson replacing Daniel Ricciardo at VCARB, Hadjar was named reserve driver in place of the New Zealander.

Isack Hadjar’s personality oscillates between his anger sometimes noticed on the radio and his calm at other times, which evokes a certain maturity. At the age of 20, this young man with hot blood and a fiery temperament, who is reminiscent of a certain Yuki Tsunoda, will start in F1 alongside other rookies: Oliver Bearman at Haas, Kimi Antonelli at Mercedes , Jack Doohan at Alpine and his old rival Gabriel Bortoleto at Stake Sauber.