Red Bull has already chosen its next victim for Max Verstappen. Given what has happened to the last six teammates the Dutchman has had since his promotion to the Energy squad, in mid-2016, more than just a chance, Izak Hajjar is on his way to the slaughterhouse. The 21-year-old Frenchman will be the seventh to compete at short Mad Maxthe most competitive animal on the net, an insatiable predator of victories, titles and anyone who challenges him. It is already known that any driver, the first one who wants to beat him is the one who owns the same car, as it is the most realistic comparison element that can be made.
Next season will be the second full season for Hajjar, who made his debut this year for Racing Bulls, Red Buffalo’s second team, and has shown that character that is so popular in the Austrian House offices. He said today via the statement issued by Red Bull: “After all the hard work I have done since joining the junior team, this is a huge reward. I have been through many ups and downs in my career, and they continue to believe in me.” Helmut Marko’s words were ringing on an eventful debut day for the boy, who couldn’t even make the start, in Australia, after an accident on the formation course. The rookie cried hard on the way back to the garage, and along the way he received the affection of Anthony Hamilton, Lewis’s father, who embraced him tightly, realizing that Marco must have some virtues, but humanity leaves them to others.
“It was a tear-jerking scene. It was a bit embarrassing,” said the then Austrian leader, a character completely out of time if we take into account the provocative statements he made, who from time to time forced him to ask for forgiveness. After a bad Melbourne experience, this Parisian with an Algerian passport turned the story around. He eats To Liam Lawson, his Racing Bulls partner, another of Verstappen’s victims, with whom he shared the Red Bull workshop for the first two Grands Prix of 2025, before being replaced by Yuki Tsunoda. Now, Arvid Lindblad will join Lawson at Racing Bulls.
The pinnacle of Hajjar’s success came at Zandvoort (Netherlands), where he scored his first Formula 1 podium and his team’s first in four years. If the boy can overcome his largely miserable start, and give Lawson a good rating – he is four places ahead of him in the overall table, in which he is ranked tenth -, he will certainly have the character to withstand the Verstappen tsunami, which Loaded To all the neighbors who have been placed. The last, Tsunoda, also arrived from the second formation, on whom high hopes were placed, and who nevertheless became undersized (1.61 m). While Verstappen – who has achieved seven victories and 14 podiums – has gained the ability to aspire to win his fifth title, the Japanese collapsed this weekend in Abu Dhabi, taking sixth place in Baku, as his best result.