By Mark Gero
After waiting for a while to see how the Red Bull line-up will be for the upcoming 2026 season, it was announced on Tuesday morning just before the last race of the year in Abu Dhabi that the French rookie Isack Hadjar will finally be promoted to the controversial second seat for the team, racing alongside four-time world champion Max Verstappen.
Also being announced that Hadjar’s current Racing Bulls drive will be replaced by the 18-year-old Briton/Swede Arvid Lindblad, who will drive with Liam Lawson, who has performed enough to keep his seat that he currently occupies.
For Hadjar, he will take the role of a position that has more drivers leave than any other squad. Hadjar will be the second Frenchman on the squad, following Pierre Gasly, who now drives for Alpine for the next three seasons.
Such drivers as Daniel Riccardo, Gasly, Alex Albon, and Sergio Perez have made their way through this difficult second seat, which continues to be a problem. Recently, Yuki Tsunoda, thanks to his Honda engine connection, received the driver position, but did not come through enough for the Milton Keynes staff to select him for another season.
Instead, the Japanese has been promoted to the role of a test driver, but it is not certain that Tsunoda will take that role, due to the change of engine suppliers from Honda to the Red Bull powertrains-Ford partnership, which is still uncertain on how this new engine will perform.
Tsunoda has also had chances to race in the American IndyCar series, but for the moment, this has not been confirmed.
As far as Hadjar is concerned, his second seat was something that the Frenchman did expect, after coming off a third-place finish at the Dutch Grand Prix last August, which gave him enough incentive to move on to the senior role. And many, including team principal Laurent Mekies, another individual from the same country, believe that Hadjar will perform differently than the others who have been through the second seat difficulty.
“In his first F1 season, he has displayed great maturity and proved to be a quick learner,” Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies said of Hadjar. “Most importantly, he has demonstrated the raw speed that is the No. 1 requirement in this sport. We believe Isack can thrive alongside Max and produce the magic on track.”
Without question, it will be interesting how the temperamental Hadjar will perform if he can handle the tension of the senior role, and how he can handle Verstappen, who is just as aggressive. And with the new rules coming up next season, the idea is how Hadjar can battle his Dutch counterpart.
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