Overview
- Isack Hadjar said the reputation of Red Bull’s second seat worried him before he signed, then rejected talk of a ‘curse’ and backed himself to succeed.
- Across the first three rounds, he leads Verstappen 2–1 in qualifying after outpacing him in Australia and Japan, according to multiple reports.
- His standout Melbourne weekend featured third on the grid before a mechanical failure ended his race, while his only points so far came with eighth in Shanghai.
- Hadjar and Red Bull described the new RB22 as very hard to drive in these early races, which he framed as a reason to treat the early results as a small sample.
- The scrutiny stems from years of teammates falling short of Verstappen since 2019, a list that includes Gasly, Albon, Perez, Lawson and Tsunoda, with analysts split between caution and praise for Hadjar’s early form.