At 20 years old, Isack Hadjar just became the youngest French driver to stand on a Formula 1 podium. Third place at Zandvoort didn’t come from chaos or luck. It came from control, nerve, and a car he said was “on rails” all weekend. He started fourth, kept his head while Ferrari and Mercedes piled on the pressure, and when Lando Norris’s power unit let go late on, Hadjar was perfectly placed to pick up a first podium for himself and a first top three for Racing Bulls since 2021.
He called it “unreal” and said he was “over the moon.” You could see why. This was a clean, disciplined drive from a rookie who, five months ago, spun on the formation lap in Australia and couldn’t even start his debut race. On Sunday at the Dutch Grand Prix, he didn’t put a wheel wrong under the glare of a partisan crowd and the noses of Charles Leclerc and George Russell filling his mirrors.
The result matters for more than the feel-good story. Hadjar is a Red Bull junior, promoted into F1 with Racing Bulls to prove he can handle the pace and the pressure. Red Bull’s leadership cares about two things: raw speed and the ability to convert. Zandvoort ticked both boxes.
A breakout drive built on control, not chaos
Start with the layout. Zandvoort is tight, banked, and punishing. Overtakes don’t come easy, which makes track position gold and mistakes costly. From fourth on the grid—his best F1 qualifying—Hadjar managed the opening laps, settled into a rhythm, and never allowed the train behind to disrupt his plan. There were no rash lunges, no missed braking points, no messy wheel-to-wheel scraps. Just steady lap times and smart tyre care.
That composure amplified the pressure on those chasing him. Leclerc, who lives for these battles, had few real looks. Russell, always dangerous in clean air, couldn’t force Hadjar to flinch. The rookie kept it simple: hit the marks, protect the tyres, choose the right battles. When Norris’s late retirement promoted him to third, he didn’t blink. He just brought the car home.
There’s also the bounce-back piece. After that formation-lap spin in Melbourne, the easy narrative would have been “too soon, too raw.” Hadjar killed that line off fast with steady points across seven of the next rounds. Sunday made it crystal clear: the rough edges are coming off, the speed is still there, and the mental reset is real. His comment summed it up—“you realise it can happen and you bounce back quickly.”
Fans saw it too. He won Driver of the Day with 38.6% of the vote, a landslide in a race where the home favorite, Max Verstappen, finished second behind Oscar Piastri. The stat tells you the story resonated: a rookie holding his nerve at a track where mistakes multiply.
There was one comic twist. In the afterglow, he set his handmade trophy on the floor for photos and the award snapped at the neck. No drama, just an awkward laugh and a quick shrug from a 20-year-old who had just banked the best result of his life. Glue can fix trophies. Podiums fix careers.
For Racing Bulls, this was the drought-breaker they needed. The last time this team (then AlphaTauri) stood on a podium was Pierre Gasly’s third in Baku back in 2021. The midfield has only gotten tighter since then. A result like this isn’t just a confidence jolt—it can swing a constructors’ fight measured in a handful of points and prize money that matters.
What this means for Red Bull’s driver puzzle
Hadjar has been part of the Red Bull Junior Team since 2022. That badge comes with opportunity, but also a very short leash. The senior team’s expectations are famously unforgiving: if you deliver, there’s a path; if you fade, the ladder gets pulled up fast. Zandvoort puts Hadjar squarely on the “deliver” side of the ledger.
Inside Red Bull’s orbit, seats are always a moving target. The senior garage weighs present points against future upside. The sister team weighs development against results. In that context, a rookie who qualifies on row two, manages a race with big names bearing down, and converts a late opening into a podium becomes more than a nice story—he becomes a live option.
Here’s what stands out from a decision-maker’s perspective:
- Qualifying ceiling: Raw pace on Saturday sets the table. P4 in Zandvoort is not a lottery slot—it’s proof of one-lap speed under pressure.
- Race craft under duress: Holding back Leclerc and Russell around a narrow, high-risk circuit is a trust-builder. It shows judgment, not just aggression.
- Conversion rate: Capitalising on Norris’s misfortune without errors is exactly the “bring it home” mindset Red Bull wants alongside outright speed.
- Consistency trend: Points in seven rounds before the breakthrough. That’s not a spike; that’s a slope.
There’s also the national milestone. Becoming the youngest French driver to reach an F1 podium carries weight at home and with sponsors. French motorsport has a deep lineage—Prost, Alesi, Gasly—and Hadjar now has a marker that puts him in those conversations far earlier than expected.
The team context matters too. The VCARB 02 has steadily improved into a dependable midfield car with a narrow operating window. When drivers hit that window, it punches above its weight. Hadjar did that across the full weekend: qualifying, race pace, and tyre life all aligned. That suggests driver and car are communicating well—no small thing for a rookie still learning how to steer development feedback.
Zoom out and the podium is also a message about adaptability. Zandvoort demands different skills than, say, a low-drag sprint at Monza or a stop-start street track. This result came at a circuit that rewards rhythm, patience, and precision. If he can carry that discipline into the next run of races, the scoring trend could snowball. Momentum matters in silly season.
And yes, the “Red Bull seat” question will only get louder. That’s not something Hadjar can control, and he knows it. What he can control is what he showed in the Netherlands: clean Saturdays that set up clean Sundays, plus a knack for staying in the fight when others blink. Red Bull notices that. The paddock notices it too.
Let’s be clear about one more thing. This wasn’t a podium built on chaos out front. Oscar Piastri won on merit. Max Verstappen, at home, finished second. The gap from Hadjar to the leaders is real, and he won’t pretend otherwise. But the job for a rookie in a midfield car is to maximise the days when the front three stumble and to fend off the pack behind. On Sunday, that’s exactly what happened.
Where does he go from here? The simple checklist looks like this: keep qualifying in the top 10, keep converting single points into double digits, keep the errors off the tape. Do that, and the highlight reel edits itself—especially if another podium turns up before the year ends.
One last note on the human side. The arc from a formation-lap mistake in Australia to a podium in the Netherlands in the same season is the kind of swing that can define a rookie year. Some drivers spend months relearning trust. Hadjar’s recovery has been quick, visible, and now backed by silverware (even if it briefly broke in two). For a 20-year-old, that’s a serious statement of resilience.
As the season rolls on, the midfield remains a knife fight. Racing Bulls needed a result to change the mood music; they just got it. The youngest Frenchman on an F1 podium, a garage full of grins, and a junior who suddenly looks like much more than a prospect. Call it a turning point. He already has.