Rookie F1 Isack Hadjar hopes to make an early impact on Formula 1 as he prepares for his first race with RB.
Like Oliver Bearman, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Jack Doohan and Gabriel Borteleto, Hadjar is preparing to embark on his maiden F1 season.
Attending the F1 75 launch on Tuesday, Hadjar was visibly excited when revealing RB’s livery for 2025. Speaking at a media session ahead of the reveal, he gave insight into his preparation and threw a marker at his rivals.
“The preparation has been really, really good. Since the beginning of the year, I was in Qatar for my training camp with my new trainer and it’s going really well,” he said.
“I’m fit and ready for F1. Obviously it’s different abilities that you need to train compared to F2 – they’re both really physical in different ways, but I’m definitely ready.”
“I’m really hungry, and I’ll give my absolute maximum and try to be spectacular on track.”
Isack Hadjar destined for RB
RB Team Principal Laurent Mekies confirmed the decision to promote last year’s F2 runner-up was an easy one.
“I think it was the most natural part of the process to get Isack in,” Mekies said. “He was very, very clearly the next one in line in terms of the Red Bull young driver programme.
“We were following him for quite a while already, and then we got a bit of time together in the final races of the season and the decision came pretty much… You [the media] knew about it at pretty much the time that it was made, but it was an easy one.”
Hadjar confirmed when asked that he found out about his promotion after his ill-fated championship finale with Borteleto.
Stalling his car on the grid, he failed to score points, handing the championship to the Brazilian.
“Officially, I found out after Abu Dhabi. When I stepped up to [being the] reserve [driver], I was just focused on trying to win the F2 title and learning in this new environment as much as possible.”
Responding to questions about his nightmare race in Abu Dhabi, he spoke about his desire to conquer F1.
“My goal is not to be an F2 champion, it’s to be F1 World Champion, so I’m fine.”
Feature Image Credit: Visa Cash App RB / Red Bull Content Pool
