Isack Hadjar promoted to Red Bull seat with Verstappen

Isack Hadjar, 21, has been promoted into a full-time race seat at Red Bull Racing and will partner four-time world champion Max Verstappen for the 2026 F1 season. The move was announced ahead of the Abu Dhabi finale and was reported again as the paddock headed to the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. The appointment makes Verstappen’s fourth different teammate in 16 months.

Hadjar earned the promotion after a strong rookie campaign that included a podium at the 2025 Dutch Grand Prix and an impressive qualifying and race record; he outscored Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda across 2025. His first season also featured notable errors — a formation-lap crash in Australia, a collision with Kimi Antonelli in Britain and costly mistakes in Baku. Hadjar joined Red Bull’s junior programme in 2021, carried out FP1 outings in 2023 and 2024 and provided simulator support; Red Bull credited Lawson as a “senior figure” who helped mentor Hadjar, and team boss Laurent Mekies and prior FP1 sessions were said to have smoothed his transition into the senior Milton Keynes operation.

Team and paddock voices framed the timing as opportune. Sergio Perez called the promotion a “massive opportunity,” while Alex Albon and others suggested the 2026 regulation changes will act as a reset likely to suit a young driver stepping into Red Bull’s high-performance environment. Verstappen described their early working relationship after Bahrain testing as “very open,” said Hadjar should enter 2026 with confidence, and — speaking of his own mindset — added, “I can beat anyone.” Hadjar did suffer a wet-weather crash during a closed-door Red Bull test in January 2026. The move comes as Red Bull prepares to start 2026 with a new Red Bull–Ford engine, a technical change that has prompted questions about the team’s title prospects and underscored the significance of integrating a young teammate.