Hadjar throws down a marker: fearless P4 puts Racing Bulls on the second row at Zandvoort
Isack Hadjar didn’t just sneak into the headlines at Zandvoort; he kicked the door down. The Racing Bulls youngster delivered the lap of his fledgling F1 career to line up fourth for Sunday’s Dutch Grand Prix, sticking his blue car on the second row alongside Max Verstappen. Up front, McLaren played out the script everyone expected, Oscar Piastri pipping Lando Norris for pole. The surprise was the name right behind them.
Hadjar’s qualifying has been trending upward this season, but this was a proper statement — fast, committed, and measured in the chaos of a gusty afternoon by the North Sea. The result? His best Saturday in Formula 1, and a grin to match.
“Very happy,” he said afterwards, allowing himself a rare moment to enjoy it. “Finally, I’m quite satisfied with what I did. It was a good job from me.”
This wasn’t an accident or a lucky tow. The Racing Bulls RB felt alive beneath him when it mattered.
“To be honest, that was the car being exactly like I wanted. It was responding really well, especially on that final lap,” Hadjar explained. “I put an amazing lap, and it sticks, because the car was great.”
Zandvoort punishes the timid and rewards the brave. Hadjar chose the second option, leaning hard on the high-speed banking and rolling the dice through the last corner.
“It’s probably the best lap I’ve had this year,” he said. “It’s a very hard track, really demanding, and I put it all on the line, especially that final corner. I thought I did pretty well there to actually gain one more tenth.”
The wind, as ever at this circuit, was a character in its own right — the kind that ruins weekends for the unwary.
“Honestly, it’s a horrible feeling when you’re in the car and you’re being hit by one,” Hadjar admitted. “You can lose up to two-tenths in a single corner. Very annoying, so you need to be a bit lucky.”
Luck or not, you still have to keep it pinned. He did.
Sunday brings a different challenge entirely: holding station off the line with Verstappen for company and two McLarens ahead — hardly a comforting view for a driver still carving out his space in the paddock. Hadjar, realistic as ever, expects the four-time world champion to make his own weather at the start.
“He’s starting on the clean side of the grid,” he noted of Verstappen. “He has great starts, usually. So actually, I expect him to probably overtake a car ahead, if anything.”
That’s fine by Hadjar. The job now is simple: launch cleanly, survive Turn 1, and see how long he can keep the heavy-hitters in sight. For Racing Bulls, it’s a golden platform — and for Hadjar, an opportunity that will not go unnoticed a few garages down. Park it on the second row next to the big bull, and whispers about “potential future team-mate” write themselves.
Zandvoort can be a meat grinder on Sundays with strategy gambles, virtual safeties and crosswinds that keep engineers sweating. But when a driver nails a lap like this, he buys himself options — track position, clean air, and a bit of swagger. Hadjar earned all three.
One scintillating lap doesn’t make a season, but it does mark a moment. And as the grandstands turn orange tomorrow, keep an eye on the other splash of blue up front. The kid just put himself right in the middle of the grown-ups’ fight.
