RUDY CAREZZEVOLI / Getty Images via AFP
F2 runner-up this year, Isack Hadjar is part of the Red Bull young driver academy.
SPORT – Never two without three. At just 20 years old, Isack Hadjar joins Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon in Formula 1. The young driver has been signed by the Racing Bulls team, which belongs to the Red Bull group, for next season.
The Parisian, Formula 2 vice-champion this season with the Campos team despite numerous mechanical problems, managed to persuade the Italian team to trust him to succeed New Zealander Liam Lawson.
The latter was in fact promoted to the Austrian team alongside the quadruple reigning Dutch world champion Max Verstappen after the ousting of the Mexican Sergio Pérez, dismissed due to mediocre results.
“It’s huge for me, for my family and for everyone who believed in me from the start”rejoiced Isack Hadjar, quoted in the press release from his new team to be found below.
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“The journey that took me from karting to single-seaters, then today to Formula 1, is the moment I have worked for all my life, it’s a dream”he stressed.
Three French people on the grid, a first since 2020
Red Bul test driver, Isack Hadjar was rather comfortable when he drove the car in free practice for the British Grand Prix or Abu Dhabi this season. The future teammate of the Japanese Yuki Tsunoda will now have to confirm over time that he has the qualities to compete in Formula 1, which he has no doubt about.
“I proved what I had to prove in F2 and I have the level to drive in F1. But I don’t want to go to F1 to make up the numbers. I don’t want to be there just to be there and vegetate, there’s no point in that. I want to be there to fight, to win.”he told AFP in early December.
Isack Hadjar 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), which has not happened since the departure of Romain Grosjean from the discipline at the end of the 2020 season. It is also the first time since 2018 that a « rookie » tricolor will be on the starting line of a season.
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