New Pink Bull signing Isack Hadjar is assured that he can win races within the 2026 Components 1 marketing campaign regardless of the struggles his predecessors confronted towards Max Verstappen.
The 21-year-old will companion the four-time world champion this 12 months after changing Yuki Tsunoda, who endured a disastrous 22-round stint with Pink Bull final season by scoring simply 30 factors.
However Tsunoda isn’t the one driver to wrestle alongside Verstappen, as Liam Lawson, Sergio Perez, Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly have all tried and failed in what has been an actual drawback for the workforce since Daniel Ricciardo left in 2018.
So there have been requires Hadjar to stick with sister squad Racing Bulls after a formidable rookie marketing campaign, however the temptation was clearly an excessive amount of – and the early indicators are literally optimistic.
“The thrill of preventing for wins towards prime drivers continues to be going to be right here and that is what issues essentially the most,” mentioned Hadjar throughout this week’s 2026 Bahrain pre-season check. “However nonetheless, you’d love to do it in automobiles which can be tremendous, tremendous quick. It makes it a bit higher.”
Pink Bull has really been one of many standout groups in Bahrain, as Verstappen accomplished essentially the most mileage with 136 laps on Wednesday inflicting many paddock members to say that the brand new RBPT is the strongest on the grid.
Max Verstappen, Pink Bull Racing, Isack Hadjar, Pink Bull Racing
Picture by: Kym Illman / Getty Photos
And though a hydraulic leak prevented Hadjar from correctly working on Thursday morning, he bounced again with 86 laps and the fifth-fastest lap within the afternoon leaving the Frenchman buoyed for the season forward.
Learn Additionally:
“Clearly, that first race win is on the radar – that may be nice,” he added. “I might wish to see our automotive progressing sooner than the opposite groups. I feel that may even be very pleasing.”
When Hadjar was then requested if he’s assured of reaching such a purpose within the RB22, he responded with a really sharp “yeah”.
The sharp solutions continued, notably when he was requested about his crash within the personal Barcelona shakedown a fortnight in the past. He went off on the remaining nook on day two, which Hadjar put right down to switching from wets to intermediates on a rain-soaked monitor.
The F1 group naturally made comparisons to when Gasly crashed on day two of 2019 pre-season testing, which began his horrid 12-round stint with the Austrian outfit. Questions of will Hadjar endure the identical destiny? Is historical past simply repeating itself?
All of which was put to Hadjar, who sarcastically responded: “After I crashed, I considered it instantly, I considered Pierre. So I went on Twitter and I learn every little thing, and I used to be like, ‘I am screwed for the entire season’ and that is how I moved on, truthfully.”
So Hadjar clearly has the boldness to play a key position within the frontrunning automobiles this 12 months, not being fazed by the whole regulation change or being Verstappen’s team-mate.
Learn Additionally:
We would like your opinion!
What would you wish to see on Motorsport.com?
– The Motorsport.com Staff
