Laurent Mekies hails Isack Hadjar for his commitment and approach at Red Bull

After Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda tried their hand at being Verstappen's teammates and failed, Red Bull Racing drafted Hadjar for one of the toughest jobs in Formula 1.

Now there are many different factors to consider, but Hadjar has done well since he made his debut with Red Bull Racing in 2026. He has been close to Verstappen in terms of pace and avoided making any major mistakes.

While we have to keep in mind Verstappen's struggles with his new car and his disenchantment with the 2026 regulations, Hadjar has managed to outqualify Verstappen once—when a comparison is possible—and not considering Melbourne when the Dutchman crashed in a freak incident as the Frenchman qualified third.

Commenting on how Hadjar kicked off his Red Bull career, Mekies said: “Isack is in a great place right now. He has done, I think, everything he could have done to maximize his integration with the team.

“He moved to London in the early days of January. He's at the factory every other day. He spends as much time as he can in the simulator, trying to understand all the engineering parts around the car. He has been as keen as you can be.

“I think he even flew back between the two Bahrain tests just to try more stuff on the simulators and flew back to Bahrain. So, credit to him for the level of commitment.

“But the truth is, he's not making an effort; that’s what he loves to do," the Red Bull boss pointed out. "He has been living, dreaming about that moment for a long time, and for him, it's his dream.

“It's our dream to be able to spend time and energy in the simulator or with the engineer. So he has been doing that very intensely. I think the first two races show that it's already showing the right results.

“He has been able to show the right speed straight away," Mekies went on. "I'm sure he will remember his first qualifying with us with a P3 in Melbourne, and it's a long season that will be up and down.

“We believe drivers make steps, and we expect steps from Isack this year, and we think he has all the right talents and all the right approach to be able to make these steps," Mekies concluded. (Reporting by Agnes Carlier)