Rosberg advises Hadjar to decline Red Bull promotion

Hadjar has impressed since making his F1 debut with Racing Bulls this season, and while he had a disastrous start to his rookie season, crashing out of the Australian Grand Prix even before it started, the French driver has since brushed off that incident and continues to deliver results every Grand Prix weekend.

The season with Hadjar having Yuki Tsunoda as his teammate, but that lasted only for two races, as the Japanese driver was called to replace Liam Lawson at Red Bull Racing, the latter demoted to the Racing Bulls.

Hadjar managed to qualify in the top ten in five races out of nine so far this season and went on to score points on five occasions as well, showing speed and decent racecraft as well.

And with Tsunoda struggling alongside Max Verstappen at Red Bull Racing, the inevitable question has been posed: Will Hadjar be the solution for Red Bull Racing's troubles trying to find a decent number 2?

Well, it might be, but Rosberg believes Hadjar should not accept an offer to become Verstappen's teammate, but he should remain with Racing Bulls, honing his skills.

The German said: "If I was Hadjar, if ever the team started to mention [a potential switch to Red Bull], I would literally decline, decline as hard as you possibly can.

"He's doing such a great job with Racing Bulls. He's in a great position. Just flat decline and say, 'no way!'," he insisted.

Verstappen remains the benchmark performer on the current F1 grid. He is the only driver currently able to extract performance from the Red Bull RB21.

But the fact that the RB21 is engineered to Dutchman's liking cannot be ignored, while also keeping in mind that, sometimes, its peakiness also makes him work hard to deliver competitive lap times, which have so far somehow kept him in contention for the championship fight with the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

The gap Verstappen has over whichever teammate is in the sister car is ridiculously big, which just shows the depth of his talent, something Rosberg made sure to point out.

He commented: "I make that Max Verstappen is a teammate killer, without exaggerating. It's just horrible to be a teammate next to that guy.

"No one gets closer than six tenths, which in F1, is like a different category. Poor Yuki, who's a fantastic driver, is in that right now, and really struggling. It's just so tough. He's doing laps that feel good and yet he's miles away. That's such a tough situation to be in.

"I struggle to understand why [Red Bull can't engineer the car to Tsunoda's liking]. Everything just points to Max Verstappen being so special.

"And that's the only thing you can say about that, because all these guys are great drivers. It looks like he's just on another level to everyone else," Rosberg concluded.

In all cases, it seems Hadjar, for now, doesn't have to make any tough decisions, as Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner insists Tsunoda will not be replaced any time soon.

(Quotes from Sky Sports F1)