With F1 teams constantly on the lookout for the next Max Verstappen or Lewis Hamilton, it is no surprise they will have a few stars waiting in the wings.
Mercedes has generated headlines with its gamble on 17-year-old Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who could make his F1 debut early after the FIA changed the rules around obtaining a Super Licence.
Red Bull has secured the future of Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez, and Yuki Tsunoda at their respective teams, but there is still a potential seat should Daniel Ricciardo not get his contract renewed beyond 2024.
Teams often want to lock in talent early to prevent others from stealing them, as was the case with Red Bull and Verstappen. Initially, the Dutchman was in contact with Mercedes before Red Bull came into the fold and offered him a drive in their sister F1 team straight out of F3 in 2015. The rest is history.
One of the main people to impress within the Red Bull stable is advisor Helmut Marko, who acts as one of the main talent spotters for drivers coming up through the junior formula ranks.
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Could Red Bull promote talent highly rated by Helmut Marko?
In this year’s F2 championship, the series often used as a feeder series to F1, French-Algerian driver Isack Hadjar has earned praise from Marko.
Speaking on The Race podcast, journalist Edd Straw expects Red Bull will be looking to promote him in the near future.
“Liam Lawson is clearly very good, but I don’t think the feeling within Red Bull is that Lawson is future world champion material, so that takes the pressure off having to force him into a seat. Isack Hadjar in F2 is certainly someone they will be looking to promote,” said Straw.
“Everyone who has got a young driver programme struggles with this. Red Bull is in a strong position because it’s got four seats with its junior team, although they claim it isn’t, but it’s still quite hard within that.”
Is Isack Hadjar on the Red Bull radar?
The 2024 season is Hadjar’s second year in F2 – he’s raced 32 times at this level – having finished his rookie year just 14th in the Drivers’ Championship.
He currently sits second in the Drivers’ table this year, just two points off championship leader Paul Aron having taken two victories so far at the Melbourne and Imola rounds.
Hadjar has taken part in two Friday Practice sessions for both Red Bull teams last year, as part of the mandatory requirement for teams to test rookies in-season.
Red Bull will likely consider him for a future seat if he can impress and earn the necessary 40 Super Licence points by finishing in either first or second overall in the F1 feeder series. This could potentially be blocked if either Daniel Ricciardo’s form picks up or Liam Lawson gets promoted instead.
Yuki Tsunoda’s future could also depend on whether Hadjar gets promoted from 2026, since the Japanese driver is weighing up his options on whether to pursue a driver elsewhere if he does not get promoted to the main Red Bull team.
The post ‘Looking to promote him’: Red Bull would love to hand 32-race F2 star an F1 drive in the future - journalist appeared first on F1 Oversteer.