F1 News
Hadjar says "it is the dream" to sign for Racing Bulls and earn F1 seat
After many months of speculation, we now know what the entire grid will look like for the 2025 season, The final seat that had to be decided was at Visa Cash App Racing Bulls, and that has been taken by Red Bull junior driver Isack Hadjar. The French-Algerian driver will partner up with Yuki Tsunoda and make his debut in the pinnacle of motorsport.
There had been a lot of talk surrounding Red Bull Racing and its junior team as to the decisions it would make with its driver lineup. Now, after two days of announcements, it has all been made official. On Thursday, Liam Lawson was announced as the newest Red Bull driver, replacing the departing Sergio Perez at the Austrian team. That meant Yuki Tsunoda would stay at Racing Bulls, but he needed another new teammate. They decided to go with Hadjar.
The 20-year-old was a part of the Formula 2 championship battle that went down to the final race of the season at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Unfortunately for Hadjar, he stalled his car on the start line and was unable to get himself back in the race, handing the title to Gabriel Bortoleto. Both drivers will be rookies in 2025, earning their respective opportunities in F1 thanks to their fantastic seasons in the junior formula.
Hadjar's first reaction to becoming an F1 driver
Speaking in the Visa Cash App Racing Bulls press release, Hadjar, understandably, was full of excitement regarding his latest seat in the world of motorsport: "I’m very excited to step into my new role at VCARB, this is huge for myself, my family and all the people who have believed in me from the beginning. The journey from karting through the ranks in single-seaters to now being in Formula One is the moment I’ve been working towards my whole life, it is the dream. I feel like I’m stepping into a whole new universe, driving a much faster car and racing with the best drivers in the world."
However, the French-Algerian driver knows how tough it will be, and he is excited to get to work right away with his new teammate Tsunoda as well: "It’ll be a huge learning curve, but I’m ready to work hard and do the best I can for the team. I look forward to working with and learning from Yuki, I’ve always looked up to him; he went through the Red Bull Junior Program, like myself, and we’ve shared a similar path to F1. He’s very experienced and will be good to learn from.”
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