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In 2023 Isack Hadjar will be one of six Red Bull juniors on the Formula 2 grid. He’s one of three of those drivers that will be a rookie.
With a potential Formula 1 seat always on the line for Red Bull juniors, Hadjar is heading into his rookie Formula 2 season with the knowledge that an exceptionally good (or bad) season could change his career forever.
Heading for F1
Doing just one season in Formula 2 before making the step up to Formula 1 is something many drivers aim to achieve. Most recently, Logan Sargeant made the step up to Williams after a successful rookie season in 2022. But Sargeant was the lone Williams driver in the category. All six of the Red Bull juniors have no such luck.
“My goal is to just have a really strong season and step up to F1,” said Hadjar. “It would be great to just spend one year in F2, that would be ideal and then go to F1. That’s the main goal, so we’ll give it everything.
“I’m just really happy to be a part of Red Bull, it’s great! I’m happy to have great drivers in the same academy as me, it pushes me to be even better. It’s great to have six Red Bull guys on track with me – I just hope to beat them all, that’s the target. It doesn’t bother me so much; I’m just focused on performing.”
Hadjar has two other rookies in the Red Bull team to contend with, one of them being his Hitech Grand Prix teammate Jak Crawford. The other is Zane Maloney, the 2022 Formula 3 vice-champion driving for Carlin this year.
But it isn’t just rookies he’ll have to outperform for a shot at a Formula 1 seat, as Dennis Hauger, Enzo Fittipaldi, and Ayumu Iwasa are all Red Bull talents coming into their second year in the category.
Can Hadjar outperform all five of his fellow academy members and score an AlphaTauri seat for 2024? Only time will tell.
Making the jump from F3
While Hadjar experienced an incredibly successful rookie season in Formula 3, there’s no guarantee that his streak will continue in 2023.
As the 18 year-old driver readily admits, it’s going to be a big step up and will take some time to get used to.
“F2 is really tough, even really good drivers take a few rounds to get their head into it,” he said. “I think it’s a tough car to understand the pit stops that are being introduced, and also the strategies, whereas in F3 it was just about pushing from the start to the end. Now, I think tyre degradation is the main limiting factor.
“Obviously, I won’t be 100% ready for the first round because there’s not enough testing, but I hope to understand everything quite quickly to be fighting for race wins.”
Having tested the Hitech Formula 2 car in Abu Dhabi at the end of 2022, Hadjar already has some idea of what he’s dealing with.
“In testing, the first two days were quite tricky, I was a bit far off. Then on the third day for some reason I was quite competitive. I found the car in the end to be quite similar to the F3 car in some ways, so I was feeling quite comfortable and felt great in the F2 car, so I think we’ll be quite competitive straight away.”
“The first time I tested in Abu Dhabi was quite tiring for me after three days of testing and a lot of race simulations, so it was tough. Physically that’s the main area I was working on during the winter, so I hope it pays off for the season.”
The Formula 2 season opener in Bahrain is now less than a month away, and rookies like Hadjar and veterans alike are all preparing for what should be a great season of racing.
Feature Image Credit: Joe Portlock – Getty Images