Red Bull chiefs to give junior series STAR F1 debut this season

Helmut Marko, Christian Horner — Photo: © LAT Images

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Red Bull chiefs to give junior series STAR F1 debut this season

Rising star Isack Hadjar will get his first taste of F1 at a track he has never raced at before

Joe Ellis

Tuesday 19 September 2023 10:57

Another Red Bull junior will emerge from the production line at Milton Keynes to make his F1 debut later this season.

Formula 2 podium finisher Isack Hadjar will drive for Red Bull's sister team AlphaTauri in FP1 at the Mexican Grand Prix in October, affording him the chance to impress Christian Horner and Helmut Marko.

The Frenchman, who was a championship contender in his rookie Formula 3 season in 2022, was in Singapore as the reserve driver for both teams and he will have the same duty in Japan this weekend.

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Red Bull required a new reserve as Liam Lawson, the current reserve driver, has had to step up to race in the absence of Daniel Ricciardo through injury.

Another challenger for the seat?

Isack Hadjar was arguably the favourite for the 2022 F3 title before a crash in qualifying at the final round thwarted his chances

Red Bull have an embarrassment of riches in F2 this season with six of the 22 drivers belonging to the Milton Keynes stable.

Ayumu Iwasa is the best-placed of the half-dozen, sitting third in the championship, while Hadjar is the lowest of the six in 14th.

It is unlikely that any of those will make the jump into an F1 race seat next season despite AlphaTauri's lineup yet to be formally confirmed, although reports suggest at least one driver could be confirmed at Suzuka.

Lawson, Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda are effectively fighting for two spots which leaves little to no room for an up-and-coming F2 junior to break in, especially one that is not fighting for silverware in the junior formulae.