Isack Hadjar leaves CEO stunned: 'I'm still struggling to believe it'

Racing Bulls CEO Peter Bayer has recalled a moment of brilliance from Isack Hadjar which he is "still struggling to believe". 

Hadjar has stunned much of the F1 paddock during his debut season, particularly having never won a junior category.

In addition, many feared the worst for the French-Algerian after he crashed on the formation lap at the season-opening Australian GP.

However, since that embarrassing moment in the wet at Albert Park, Hadjar has been one of the stars of the season so far. 

He is the only midfield driver to have not suffered a single exit from Q1 across the 14 completed grands prix, and has also scored more points than Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda. 

Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko has also been left hugely impressed, increasing Hadjar's chances of being handed a promotion to partner Max Verstappen in 2026. 

As highlighted in a story from Bayer, Hadjar has an incredible ability to find lap time and communicates well with his race engineer. 

According to Bayer, during qualifying for the Austrian GP, Hadjar asked for specific information on how much time he was losing in a corner, before quickly finding the lap time. 

"I’m still struggling to believe it, but it’s what happened," Bayer told PlanetF1 in Austria, recalling a story from qualifying at the Red Bull Ring.

"I was listening to the radio when he was coming in, the umbilical in. His race engineer [Pierre Hamelin] said: ‘Look, Isack, you’re losing about half a tenth in Turn 6’.

"Isack said to him: ‘Can you be more precise?’

"Pierre said, ‘Yes, I can. You’re losing 0.035 of a second in that turn.’ And Isack said: ‘OK, then I know what to do.’ [And he did it]."