Outside Line: Fatherly advice for Isack Hadjar

They have placed young Frenchman Hadjar alongside Verstappen, fresh off yet another reminder that the second seat at Red Bull is not a career opportunity; it has been more like a career hazard. The Yuki Tsunoda experiment failed. Spectacularly.

Before that, Liam Lawson was thrown out after two races, a disgraceful decision that said more about Red Bull than it did about the driver. And now it is Hadjar’s turn.

Let us be brutally honest about what the 21-year-old is walking into. This is not a normal teammate battle. This is not a learning year. This is not a gentle introduction to life at the sharp end of Formula 1. This is a four-time world champion at the absolute peak of his powers, still improving, still refining, still hunting. Verstappen is not slowing down. He is accelerating away from the field.

Before offering Hadjar advice, look at Tsunoda. Credit where it is due, he did what every racing driver is wired to do. He believed he was the best. He believed he could beat Verstappen. He said it out loud. He arrived at Red Bull like a Duracell bunny, bouncing with confidence, convinced he was about to expose the myth.

Formula 1 does not care about belief. The sport shredded Tsunoda’s script and filed him neatly alongside the long list of Verstappen casualties. Drivers who arrived confident and left diminished.

There is a lesson here, and it is uncomfortable. Yes, drivers must believe they are the best. But belief colliding with reality has consequences. And the reality is that the greatest driver this sport has ever seen, driving a car that only he can truly extract performance from.

This is where Hadjar gets lucky.

The 2026 rules reset is his lifeline. A full aerodynamic and power unit revolution. The blankest canvas Formula 1 has offered in decades. For the first time in years, Red Bull will not roll out a car sculpted around Verstappen’s preferences. The first test will be as close to an arrive-and-drive setup as modern Formula 1 allows. Same car. Same baseline. No historical advantage is baked into the DNA.

That reset is Hadjar’s greatest asset. Possibly his only one. But make no mistake, one wrong sentence can ruin everything.

If Hadjar stands in front of the media and declares that he will beat Verstappen, history tells us exactly how that ends. Verstappen keeps a mental to-do list. First, destroy the teammate. Then, win the championship.

Hadjar must arrive humbly. Not weak. Not submissive. Humble. When asked if he can beat Max, the answer should not be brave. It should be smart.

I would advise and suggest he answers with modesty and I paraphrase: “My goal is to be within three tenths of Max. No one has managed that consistently. I want to learn from him. I want to understand how he operates.”

That is not surrender. That is survival.

Hadjar did not grow up watching Senna, Prost, or Schumacher dismantle grids in real time. But history has spoken clearly enough. Verstappen belongs in that conversation. Possibly above it. Four titles say so. The fifth that slipped away only sharpened the blade.

To be in that garage is a privilege. Tell Max that. Mean it. And thank Red Bull. Learn from Verstappen. Stay close. Absorb everything.

If Hadjar plays this correctly, he may even earn Verstappen’s respect, much like Michael Schumacher once mentored Felipe Massa, allowing him space to grow within Ferrari. But respect is not gifted. It is earned, cautiously, and only when no threat is perceived.

Whether Hadjar is as good as Massa, or better, remains to be seen. Whether he can do what Massa never quite managed and win a Formula world title is a question for the future.

For now, my fatherly message is simple. Be humble, Hadjar. You are in rare company. Do not make Max Verstappen your enemy. Because Formula 1 history shows what happens to those who do. And it is never pretty.