Isack Hadjar’s promotion to the senior Red Bull Formula 1 team has looked pretty much a done deal for months - even with the delay to the final decision.
So the grandiose comparison Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko just made between Hadjar and two of F1’s greatest ever champions feels like a particularly unsubtle hint towards what we all expect is going to happen.
On the latest episode of F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast, Marko was asked if he felt Hadjar had what it takes to win championships, and gave a pretty spectacular reply.
“Yes,” said Marko. “Simple example. Most of the circuits are new for him, and after three laps, he's competitive.
“I followed Michael Schumacher very closely, and also [Ayrton] Senna - they all had it: they didn't need 15 laps or how many tests. They come, boof, and they are there.”
Having come up through the Formula 3 and Formula 2 ladder, Hadjar is familiar with plenty of the circuits on the F1 calendar. But it’s true that he’s also performed well at venues new to him, for instance his breakthrough seventh on the grid and eighth in the race on his Suzuka debut.
Given what’s happened in the rest of the Red Bull line-up, though, Hadjar doesn’t need to be the next Senna or Schumacher to earn a promotion from Racing Bulls to the senior team.
With Liam Lawson having failed alongside Max Verstappen already and Yuki Tsunoda not exactly improving his chances during the period of Red Bull’s delayed decision - finishing last in the Brazilian Grand Prix last time out - Hadjar has by far the strongest case to be in the second Red Bull Racing seat for 2026 anyway.
