{"id":607109,"date":"2026-09-21T12:34:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T12:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/607109\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T12:34:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T12:34:11","slug":"isack-hadjar-undergoing-final-red-bull-evaluation-before-comeback-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/607109\/","title":{"rendered":"Isack Hadjar undergoing final Red Bull evaluation before comeback decision"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Isack Hadjar is currently undergoing his final evaluation before a decision is made on his return to the Red Bull cockpit, RacingNews365 understands.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>The French driver has missed the previous three grands prix due to a wrist injury sustained during the summer break, with Liam Lawson deputising for him alongside Max Verstappen.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies has been clear that Hadjar will return to the seat once he is 100% fit, with Hadjar understood to currently be in Red Bull&#8217;s simulator undergoing evaluations before a final decision is made.\u00a0\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>This is expected to come later today, Monday 21st September, with RacingNews365&#8217;s sources close to the matter, indicating that Hadjar feels his hand has improved and reduced in pain.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Only after the simulator session has been conducted, will a decision be made over whether Hadjar returns to the RB22 or if Lawson will stand-in for a fourth consecutive race at this weekend&#8217;s Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku, <a href=\"https:\/\/racingnews365.com\/2026-f1-azerbaijan-grand-prix-baku-time-schedule\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">which is taking place on Saturday instead of the usual Sunday.\u00a0<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>The article continues below.\u00a0\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tLawson and Tsunoda<\/p>\n<p>The knock-on effect of Hadjar&#8217;s comeback will mean that if he is indeed cleared to race, Lawson will be back at Racing Bulls alongside Arvid Lindblad.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>It would mean that Yuki Tsunoda&#8217;s three-race spell alongside Lindblad comes to an end, with the Japanese driver performing well, and scoring a point in the Italian Grand Prix.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>If Hadjar does return to Red Bull, and Lawson to Racing Bulls, Tsunoda will resume his duties as third and reserve driver.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Isack Hadjar is currently undergoing his final evaluation before a decision is made on his return to the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":607110,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[3518,3521,3519,3522,3520,3517,3515,3513,3516,3514,111,139,69,3512,213],"class_list":["post-607109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-daniel-ricciardo","tag-f1-calendar","tag-f1-live","tag-f1-results","tag-f1-standings","tag-ferrari","tag-formula-1","tag-lewis-hamilton","tag-max-verstappen","tag-motorsport","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-racing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=607109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/607110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=607109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=607109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=607109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}