Max Verstappen's new team-mate for the next Formula 1 season has been confirmed. The 21-year-old Frenchman Isack Hadjar will move up from the sister team to Red Bull to join the Dutchman.
02.12.2025, 16:35
02.12.2025, 16:36
SDA
As the racing team announced in the last Grand Prix week of the year before the finale in Abu Dhabi, Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda has to make way for Hadjar. Like his predecessor Liam Lawson from New Zealand, the 25-year-old Japanese driver has failed to impress despite his recent upward trend. Tsunoda now has no regular cockpit for 2026 and will be a substitute driver at Red Bull for the time being.
Hadjar, who also has Algerian citizenship and whose father is a nuclear physicist, will be replaced at Racing Bull by 18-year-old Arvid Lindblad. Like Tsunoda, both come from the Red Bull junior program.
Verstappen was also trained there. In 2015, the now four-time world champion climbed into the Formula 1 cockpit for the first time at Toro Rosso - the name of the sister team at the time. After a few races in the 2016 season, Verstappen was promoted and won in Spain in his first Red Bull outing.
At this weekend's finale, the 28-year-old has a chance of winning his fifth title in a row. He has won a total of 70 races for Red Bull.
His dominance and the way he aggressively sets up the car has made it difficult for his team-mates to keep up with Verstappen for years. Hadjar will be the sixth driver to attempt to hold his own against the serial world champion over a longer period of time.
