He binned it on the formation lap in Melbourne and looked every inch a rookie. Since then, Isack Hadjar has driven like he never got the memo. Twenty-two points on the board, 13th in the standings at the summer break, and second only to Kimi Antonelli among the newcomers — with the Italian doing his learning in a front-running Mercedes — is a tidy way to announce yourself.
Helmut Marko has already called Hadjar “the most impressive rookie” this year, and the chatter that inevitably follows a Red Bull junior putting noses out of joint has arrived right on cue. Promotion talk, even mid-season talk, isn’t new in this house. But Racing Bulls CEO Peter Bayer isn’t having it.
“I was joking, honestly!” he laughed of his quip about “handcuffing” Hadjar to Faenza. “We have strong alignment internally that we need to go through this year calmly, with everyone focusing on their jobs. Post-summer break, discussions will start about 2026, but in ’25, we all want to keep it calm and, talking about Isack, give him the chance to grow, to learn. Honestly, he is incredible.”
Bayer’s favourite recent example came from Austria. Over team radio, engineer Pierre Hamelin told Hadjar he was losing “half a tenth” in Turn 6. “Can you be more precise?” came the reply. “0.035,” said Hamelin. “OK, then I know what to do.” He did.
The other Racing Bulls seat has found its groove too. Liam Lawson needed time after being shuffled between garages early doors, but once Monaco unlocked his first points with the VCARB, the rhythm followed: two eighth places and a season-best sixth in Austria. He’s on 20 points, just two behind Hadjar, which is a reminder that Lawson — despite the “experienced” tag — has only just rounded out something resembling a full season in F1.
“Confidence is personal,” Bayer said. “Liam always said it was never down. He was unlucky on a couple of occasions. Now, he is fun, happy, like in his best days.”
Up the road, Yuki Tsunoda is wrestling a far more capricious beast. A ninth and a couple of tenths are his best returns so far, leaving him trailing both Racing Bulls drivers despite theoretically having faster kit. Bayer admits surprise after seeing Tsunoda’s preparation first-hand last year: “I saw a Yuki as strong as I’ve never seen him before… I think it’s probably just a very difficult car to drive. Ours is more forgiving, wider window, but it’s not as fast.”
That leads to a bigger point, as Bayer frames it: with these ground-effect cars, driveability is performance. Miss it by a hair and you fall off a cliff — sun, shade, asphalt, the lot can swing your weekend.
As for Arvid Lindblad, the fast-rising junior has tested privately and is firmly on the radar. But Bayer’s priority is stability now and choices later. “We’ll go through the year, and at the end, we’ll see what’s possible.”
In other words: stop the carousel, let the kids cook, and reassess when the dust settles. It’s hard to argue when one of them is making this much noise.
