‘Mentally ready’ Isack Hadjar ‘curious’ to tackle Red Bull’s troubled F1 car
"It's definitely interesting. I would obviously love to, out of curiosity, go and have a look for myself."
Isack Hadjar says he is “curious” to have a go at driving Red Bull’s troubled 2025 F1 car, insisting his goal remains to drive for the senior team.
The 20-year-old French rookie has made an impressive start to his career in F1 and is already being lined up with a promotion to Red Bull from sister squad Racing Bulls amid Yuki Tsunoda’s ongoing struggles.
Hadjar recently admitted he “wouldn’t feel ready” for a mid-season promotion to the senior team, though speaking ahead of the British Grand Prix, he stressed he is curious to discover just how difficult the RB21 is to drive.
"When I signed the contract with Red Bull four years ago, the goal was to get to Red Bull, so it hasn't changed," Hadjar told media including Crash.net at Silverstone.
"It's definitely interesting. I would obviously love to, out of curiosity, go and have a look for myself."
Red Bull have insisted that Tsunoda will see out the remainder of the 2025 season despite failing to make a breakthrough and Hadjar acknowledged staying put at Racing Bulls would make "more sense” for the time being.
"At the moment, It's not like I'm in total control; I'm scoring points every weekend,” he said. “There’s still a lot to learn, so it makes more sense to stay where I'm at at the moment.”
Hadjar ‘mentally ready’ to take on Verstappen
Hadjar reckons he has what it takes “mentally” to go up against Verstappen, but concedes he does not know whether he has the “skills” necessary to match the four-time world champion.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner previously described being Verstappen’s teammate is the most difficult job in F1.
"That means you would start the weekend on the back foot all the time. He gets in the rhythm. He's very explosive. He gets in the rhythm very fast. You always have to make up lap time and try to get there,” Hadjar said of Verstappen.
Asked if he feels ready for the daunting prospect of going up against Verstappen,
Hadjar replied: "Mentally, yes. If there's one thing I'm good at, it's this. The only thing is, do I have the skills? Mentally, I know I'm strong, so I'm not very worried about that.
"Do I have Verstappen's skills? I don't know. I don't know yet. That's the thing."
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