Can Isack Hadjar succeed alongside Max Verstappen at Red Bull? James Hinchcliffe weighs in

F1 TV presenter James Hinchcliffe has weighed in on Isack Hadjar’s future at Red Bull, questioning whether the French-Algerian driver could break the team’s streak of struggling with its second driver.

Hadjar secured the coveted seat alongside four-time champion Max Verstappen after impressing during his rookie season with Racing Bulls. But the move has come under scrutiny from fans and those within the paddock after years of the Milton Keynes outfit replacing drivers in the seat next to Verstappen.

After replacing Sergio Perez for the 2025 season, Liam Lawson was demoted to Racing Bulls following just two race weekends. Yuki Tsunoda, who took Lawson’s spot, remained with Red Bull until the end of 2025, but has now moved to a reserve driver role with Hadjar taking his place.

Hinchcliffe analysed whether Hadjar could be the driver to end the streak at Red Bull.

“There’s so many variables to that, it’s so hard to know,” Hinchcliffe said during an appearance on The Red Flags Podcast. “Because, yes, it’s a new ruleset, right? But Red Bull’s gone through several rulesets and the Verstappen/team-mate relationship has kind of been the same throughout them, right?

“But it’s the first one that’s not Newey-inspired, so is there something to that? Is there something about the way that Adrian designs cars that is just that much trickier to drive?

Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

“DC’s [David Coulthard] telling is he doesn’t really care about the drivers’ feelings. ‘This is the fastest way to build a car, you figure out how to drive it, that’s your job. My job is to build the fastest car, your job is to drive it as quickly as possible.’

“So, without that mentality, if they’re going to try to build a car that’s a little more forgiving, maybe more all-rounding, give up a little bit of pure pace for a little bit of drivability, that could play into Hadjar’s benefit.

“That could play into his hand and make him look like, ‘Oh, I’m the guy who closed the gap to Max’, when there might be more to the story.

“Obviously, he’s phenomenally talented. And with a complete rule set, it’s as good a chance as anyone has.”

Photos from Barcelona shakedown