Why Isack Hadjar’s mum was first to know about his Red Bull F1 drive

Isack Hadjar’s mum was the first to know he would earn promotion to Red Bull for the 2026 F1 season.

The 21-year-old Frenchman has been promoted to become four-time world champion Max Verstappen’s teammate at Red Bull following an impressive rookie season at Racing Bulls, which included claiming a stunning maiden podium finish at the Dutch Grand Prix.

Speaking in his first interview as a Red Bull driver, Hadjar explained how he found out the news and revealed that his mother Randa, an HR director who also acts as his manager, was informed before him.

"I just called my mum," he told Red Bull’s in-house Talking Bull podcast.

"She said that she actually got the phone call before I had it. She knew. Because she's my manager and she knows more than I do.”

Hadjar admitted he still has moments of disbelief as he prepares to contest his first F1 season at the Red Bull senior team.

"There are moments where I do realise what's happening and I'm up for the challenge and sometimes like, 'What the hell am I doing here?’” Hadjar said.

"It's so far away from my go-kart days. I'm like, 'Why me? How did I get chosen?’”

Hadjar eager to learn from Verstappen

Hadjar will face the biggest test in F1 in going head-to-head with Verstappen, who has comprehensively outperformed all of his five teammates since Daniel Ricciardo left Red Bull at the end of 2018.

But Hadjar is relishing the opportunity to prove himself against the best driver on the F1 grid, and the chance to learn from Verstappen.

"So cool," he said. "I'm just 21 years old. I started single-seater racing in 2019, and I get to be team-mates with the best driver on the grid. It's a huge, huge privilege.

"It's like, why did he finish so close to being world champion without the best car? There have been races where there have been very tricky conditions and he's always going to be here. Also, his ability to... he always turns up in Q3. He always goes and finds more lap time.

"If there's a single opportunity, if there's a scenario out of 10 million, there's only one where he's actually going to win the race; he's going to win the race.”

Hadjar added: “Once he goes in the car, you can there's a mix of obviously his natural ability and you can tell that his 11 years of F1 are also paying off. He goes in and I just feel like he drives this F1 car like a go-kart. That's the difference.”