Inside Hadjar’s first day of school

“Impressive; fast and no mistakes.” Praise doesn’t get much better coming from Helmut Marko when we ask him to evaluate Isack Hadjar’s first day of school as he made his full grand prix debut for Racing Bulls in Australia.

Hadjar was the last debutant to be confirmed for a 2025 F1 seat, and the Frenchman of Algerian descent certainly hasn’t arrived in the series with the level of expectation commanded by the hype around Andrea Kimi Antonelli or the promising cameos of Oliver Bearman.

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Hadjar only had 400-odd laps in an F1 car under his belt when he arrived at Albert Park, but far from being a rabbit in the headlights the 20-year-old F2 runner-up has put the building blocks in place of a solid weekend. And while the true test will follow when the stopwatch really matters on Saturday and Sunday, Hadjar has so far gotten off to a promising start.

On Thursday he got a first taste of his newfound status as an F1 driver as he passed through the famous Melbourne Walk, a corridor lined by hordes of passionate fans who wait for hours to get autographs and selfies. Keen not to disappoint any fans, Hadjar took over 20 minutes to get through the short stretch, arriving in the paddock only just in time for his first meeting.

Isack Hadjar, RB F1 Team

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

In his subsequent media session Hadjar made a relaxed impression despite being a reluctant interviewee, with opening questions on his 10-year stint as a judoka breaking the ice somewhat. But while not a keen public speaker, here was not a man feeling the pressure.

“I feel the pressure I put on myself to perform, but external pressure will always be a bit lower than that,” Hadjar said. “The pressure you have to get to F1 is more difficult, because now I’m in F1 I will be judged only by my performance within the team. In Formula 2, Formula 3, there are too many aspects you cannot control.”

Nevertheless, Hadjar’s PR team tried to ensure that after the bustle of media day, his first day of on-track running would be streamlined to allow him enough room to breathe and focus on what matters without too many distractions.

“We really try to isolate him from all the noise outside,” team principal Laurent Mekies told Sky Sports F1. “It’s important that he gets the laps, gets comfortable in the car, that he takes things step by step. It’s a long weekend, it’s a long season. So, we really try to make sure that it gets at ease with the car.”

After an early Friday breakfast Hadjar joined team-mate Yuki Tsunoda at the F1 fan forum for a scheduled fan interaction, but by 11:00am his focus was fully on the driving side, attending a final engineering meeting for stepping into the car for FP1.

Despite Albert Park being a tricky circuit for a debutant, RB decided to follow its normal run plan without making any sort of changes to bring Hadjar in gently. While other rookies took longer to get up to speed, and Haas colleague Bearman crashed out of first free practice, Hadjar seemed comfortable enough in the VCARB 02 to get straight on the pace, clocking 25 drama-free laps to finish ninth.

That trend continued in FP2 in which he claimed sixth, two and a half tenths behind Tsunoda in fourth, albeit with RB cars that appeared light on fuel and are expected to slip back towards – and likely behind – the pace of the Williams cars in the midfield.

Motorsport.com understands members within the engineering team were impressed with the precise feedback and mature focus he displayed, and his solid start to life as an F1 driver also didn’t go unnoticed within the wider Red Bull family, as Marko’s comments above demonstrate.

Mekies was also pleased with what he had seen – from both drivers – although nobody at RB is getting carried away by the timesheets just yet.

“It was a good day, especially with Isack being a rookie here, with all the pressure, a city track, rain coming for Sunday… it’s a lot to go through,” he said. “He only had one day of testing, actually, with Christian [Horner]’s team, before getting to Bahrain.

“He’s still very much in an early phase, but he did a good job. Yuki was also quite at ease today, and it gave us a good baseline. But don’t read too much into the lap times.”

Naturally, his efforts on Friday are of no use if Hadjar then puts it into the wall in Saturday’s Q1. But the 2025 rookie who has been talked about the least – and comes with a temperamental reputation – quietly got on with the job and got off to the best start.

Photos from Australian GP – Free Practice

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