Red Bull wants “unbelievable” protege “to continue to surprise us” in F1 2026

Pink Bull Method 1 crew boss Laurent Mekies desires Isack Hadjar to “proceed to shock” when he companions Max Verstappen in 2026.

The French driver made his F1 debut final season with the Racing Bulls crew and impressed throughout the 24-round calendar.

Isack Hadjar scored his first F1 factors three rounds into the 2025 season in Japan with an eighth-place end and managed a better of sixth at Monaco inside the primary half of the marketing campaign.

He took a maiden podium end at Zandvoort after the summer season break and completed twelfth total within the standings, two spots forward of team-mate Liam Lawson.

Hadjar earned himself a promotion to the primary Pink Bull crew instead of the struggling Yuki Tsunoda, who was seventeenth within the standings final season.

“Unbelievable” first season for Hadjar praised by Pink Bull boss

Lately, a promotion to Pink Bull from its sister crew has confirmed to be a poisoned chalice for drivers, with the likes of Lawson and Tsunoda struggling to duplicate stable kind from the earlier yr.

In dialog with the official F1 web site, Mekies has moved to mood outcomes expectations, and as an alternative desires Hadjar to “proceed to shock” as he did in 2025.

“Isack has had an unbelievable first season,” Mekies mentioned.

“There isn’t any doubt that by way of place to begin – so the place he began in January – the place to begin was excellent.

“Then we’re sturdy believers not solely within the uncooked expertise, but additionally within the capability of the drivers to develop.

“We have now seen so many champions growing via the years, doing issues that that they had not achieved within the automobile a couple of races earlier than.

“We have seen that with Isack this yr too. We’ve seen him making stuff within the automobile that he was not doing three races earlier than.”

He added: “We wish him to proceed on that path. We do not see it as a touchdown level.

“We see it as one other begin for him to proceed to develop, to proceed to impress us, to proceed to shock us.

“And you’ll count on that within the second yr. You’ll count on that within the third yr, maybe within the fourth yr. In order that’s slightly little bit of the journey for us collectively.”