Who is Isack Hadjar? Max Verstappen's new team-mate and F1's rookie phenom

Max Verstappen will have yet another new team-mate in 2026, with Isack Hadjar being confirmed as a Red Bull F1 star.

Hadjar is being promoted from his current Racing Bulls seat to replace Yuki Tsunoda, who has been in the seat since he replaced Liam Lawson earlier in 2025.

Tsunoda has dropped off the grid completely, having held a full-time seat in the sport since the 2021 season.

For Hadjar, it's yet another step forward in what has been a rapid rise to the top of the sport, with his rookie season in F1 seeing him claim a maiden grand prix podium with Racing Bulls, and boost his team to sixth in the drivers' championship.

Hadjar is currently ahead of both Tsunoda and Lawson in the drivers' championship, despite being the only one of the three who has not raced a single event in the Red Bull.

But how has the 21-year-old got himself into this position so quickly?

Early life and career

Born in Paris on September 28 2004, Hadjar starting riding go-karts when he was just seven years of age, having been a big fan of the Pixar film Cars.

He started racing competitively in karting at the age of just eight in 2012, and by 2016 he was a contender in some of France's chief karting championships.

In 2018, Hadjar switched to official single seater racing series, competing in the Ginetta Junior Winter Championship.

His next two seasons were spent in the French F4 Championship, where he claimed four wins and 13 podiums, before he was snapped up by Red Bull as a young driver in 2022.

Has Hadjar won a title?

Hadjar's rise has come despite the fact he has never claimed a single-seater championship in his junior career.

After impressing in the Formula Regional Asian Championship and F3 in 2022, Hadjar was promoted to F2 with the Hitech Pulse-Eight team for the 2023 season, and this is really where his talent shone through.

Hadjar was given a seat with Campos Racing for 2024 after impressing at Hitech, and he was involved in a thrilling championship battle with Gabriel Bortoleto in that season, winning four races and eventually missing out on the title in the final race of the season.

In that year, he was also the reserve driver for Red Bull and Racing Bulls in F1, taking part in multiple practice sessions, as he prepared for what would eventually become a full-time seat in F1 in 2025.

Hadjar was confirmed as a Racing Bulls driver for 2025 at the end of the 2024 season, and has since claimed 51 points across 23 race weekends, including a maiden podium at the Dutch GP.

It's his superb rookie season performances that have seen him promoted up into the Red Bull seat alongside four-time world champion Verstappen for 2026.

READ MORE: Max Verstappen's 2026 team-mate announced as star OUT of F1

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