The key factor that saw Hadjar handed his F1 shot with RB

Isack Hadjar has become the final piece of the 2025 driver market puzzle after agreeing a deal to step up from F2 and race for RB. Why did the Red Bull family choose him – and what does it mean for his team mate Yuki Tsunoda?

When Sergio Perez and Red Bull announced they were parting ways with Liam Lawson stepping up to replace him, attention turned to the vacant RB seat alongside Tsunoda. Red Bull already had a plan for that in the form of Hadjar.

The French Algerian has impressed the energy drinks firm with his pure pace and racecraft in F2, the 20-year-old finishing runner up to Gabriel Bortoleto. His tally of four wins was the most of any driver, in what was his second campaign.

He then delivered a very strong showing in the end-of-season Abu Dhabi test when he ran the Red Bull alongside Tsunoda, with Red Bull boss Christian Horner saying he was faster than Yuki “which turned heads”.

ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - DECEMBER 10: Isack Hadjar of France driving the (37) Oracle Red — Red Bull boss Horner said Hadjar had 'turned heads' when turning out in the end-of-season test

A decision had already been made by then, though. Hadjar had done enough to impress Red Bull and earn promotion. “He’s definitely a raw talent,” says Horner. “He needs a little bit of polishing, but he has the speed.”

That made him the perfect candidate to become the 19th driver to earn promotion to Formula 1 through the junior programme, which began more than two decades ago in 2001.

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Red Bull return to full focus on juniors

Red Bull were keen to highlight the strength of the driver academy in this announcement and that of Lawson's promotion.

When Red Bull first entered the sport and bought a second team from Minardi, the whole project was focused around utilising the second team as a vehicle to bring through young drivers for the works team.

If you didn’t impress quickly at the second team (formerly known as Toro Rosso and AlphaTauri) you were out. Succeed and you got your chance at the big leagues. Patience was thin but the rewards were high.

ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - NOVEMBER 26: Max Verstappen of Netherlands and Scuderia Toro — Max Verstappen is just one driver to come through Red Bull's second team, when it was known as Toro Rosso

That yielded an immense amount of success, with Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen winning eight world championships between them.

However, in recent years, they’ve moved away from that strategy. They took someone from outside the programme in the shape of Perez when they moved Alex Albon on at the end of 2020 – and they’ve favoured experience at RB, too, with Tsunoda completing his fourth season at the team this year.

This pair of announcements shows they are reverting to their original strategy, which is backing youth.

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Tsunoda will be a superb benchmark for Hadjar and help Red bull quickly gauge whether he’s the real deal and has the potential to step up to the works team when required.

The Japanese driver excelled this year, securing his best-ever campaign and he has now beaten his last three team mates Nyck de Vries, Daniel Ricciardo and Liam Lawson. If Hadjar beats Tsunoda, Red Bull can be certain he’s on the right trajectory and worth continuing to back.

ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - DECEMBER 10: Yuki Tsunoda of Japan and Oracle Red Bull Racing — Tsunoda has enjoyed his best-ever campaign with RB, and had an outing for Red Bull in the post-season test

What does all this mean for Tsunoda?

Tsunoda will be hurt by the events of this week. The Japanese racer felt he had done enough to earn promotion but has been overlooked.

His future with the programme is precarious. His backers Honda are leaving the team at the end of 2025 to make Aston Martin their works team – and Horner suggested, during an end-of-season media lunch, that it might be time for him to move on for pastures new after what will have been five years with the sister team.

Horner said: “We're acutely aware that if we're not able to provide an opportunity for Yuki being in all honesty this year, does it make sense?

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“You can't have a driver in the support team for five years. You can't always be the bridesmaid. You've either got to let them go at that point or look at something different.”

That said – his chances of stepping up to the main works team aren’t over yet, with Horner suggesting he could still be called upon.

“Certainly Yuki impressed the team when he tested last week in Abu Dhabi,” said Horner. “His feedback was good. And I think that he, if required, would be there to be drawn on if we needed to.”

ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - DECEMBER 07: Christian Horner of Great Britain and Oracle Red — Horner has suggested it could soon be time for Tsunoda to move onto pastures new

He added: “I spoke with Yuki. He said he was enjoying having some wagyu beef while he was on his time out, but his motivation was to demonstrate that he warrants that opportunity.

“And the Racing Bulls team will hopefully make a step forward again next year as they utilise the rear suspension and the gearbox, and the aspects that they're allowed to use.

“I think as that team and new management matures, that team will naturally take a step forward. And I think he's very determined; he knows that things change very quickly.

“Who would've thought nine months ago we'd be sitting here talking about Liam Lawson being our driver for 2025? Things change quickly in this industry and he's aware of that and knows that he needs to be the one demonstrating that he's the one knocking on the door.”

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It seems there is some hope for Tsunoda at Red Bull though it’s not in his control. However, the Japanese driver can take some clarity from his conversation from Horner and the Red Bull boss’ comments above.

Tsunoda clearly has the speed. He was fast this year and fast in his first Red Bull test. He’s also levelled up in terms of maturity and racecraft.

ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - DECEMBER 10: Yuki Tsunoda of Japan driving the (22) Oracle Red — Tsunoda impressed during the test, but was overlooked in favour of Liam Lawson by the works team for 2025

If he makes another step up in 2025 and delivers the kind of big performances that forces the Red Bull senior management to take notice, he still has a chance of stepping up to the works team either as a sub next year or in 2026.

Even if Red Bull overlook him again, those strong performances will stand him in good stead with other squads on the grid – and perhaps the Japanese driver can take a more proactive approach to discussions with rivals in the knowledge that his time at Red Bull might be coming to an end.

Sauber and Haas were previously interested in him – while there’s always a chance he could make it into a seat at the Honda-powered Aston Martin team at some point.

And there are set to be two extra seats on the grid from next year, with Cadillac/GM having recently reached an agreement in principle to become the 11th F1 team from that season.

So, in many ways, Tsunoda’s future is in his hands. Smash it out of the park next year and he could become a wanted man. Get outshone by Hadjar or fail to step it up in a big way and things could get difficult.