Isack Hadjar’s doing most of the hard stuff right. The rookie’s fast, tidy in traffic, and already a points regular. Now his entourage wants him to work on the one thing that doesn’t show up on the timing screens: cracking a smile.
“I need to cheer up a bit more when I have a good result for my team,” Hadjar admitted after another steady weekend in a season that’s been anything but simple for Racing Bulls.
It’s classic Hadjar. Hyper self-critical, even when there’s plenty to be happy about. He spun on the formation lap in Melbourne, sure, but he’s since banked 22 points from 14 rounds with a best of sixth in Monaco, and he’s turned enough heads to win praise from Red Bull’s Helmut Marko. That matters in this system.
His camp has made the simple case. Positivity lifts a garage. “I’ve been told by my entourage I need to cheer up a bit more, because the mechanics, the engineers, they need to hear positive things,” Hadjar said. He insists he can let loose when he feels he’s nailed it — “if there’s someone that celebrates, that goes crazy, it’s me” — but adds those days are rare because he knows when he’s left time on the table.
There’s context to the stoicism. Hadjar’s route to this seat was a stress test. He finished runner-up to Gabriel Bortoleto in the 2024 Formula 2 title fight and waited late for his F1 break. “It’s been very uncertain, very stressful,” he said of the run-in to 2025. “I didn’t know until I got called… It’s been a tough ride, but they made the right decision, so I’m happy.”
The decision was wrapped in Red Bull musical chairs. Liam Lawson initially stepped up to Red Bull as Sergio Perez’s replacement, which opened the Racing Bulls door for Hadjar. Two races later came the switch: Lawson back to Racing Bulls, Yuki Tsunoda to Red Bull. Through it all, Hadjar hasn’t flinched. He’s scoring, he’s clean, and he’s earned trust on Sundays — the currency that matters most for a team trying to steady itself.
There’s also a cultural piece here. Red Bull’s world doesn’t mind bluntness or a bit of edge, but teams run on feel as much as data. When your rookie brings home points and then looks like he’s lost the plot because P6 could’ve been P5, the room follows him. Hadjar knows it. So does the crew.
The speed’s real. The head is switched on. And if the Frenchman lets a touch more joy escape the helmet when the job’s good, the ripple effect inside Faenza could be worth as much as a tenth. In a midfield knife fight, that matters.
