"I want to wave at Lewis Hamilton": When Isack Hadjar was excited about sharing the track with the F1 legend
In 2023, Isack Hadjar was excited to share the track with Lewis Hamilton during the Mexican GP practice session. The young French-Algerian driver wanted to wave at the seven-time world champion after his debut practice run.
In the 2023 F1 Mexican GP, many junior drivers were given the opportunity to drive in the first practice session as handing a car to a junior driver on two separate occasions was a compulsory rule by the FIA in F1. Many teams chose the Mexican GP for the junior practice sessions.
Hence, Isack Hadjar, Red Bull's protege and F2 driver, replaced Racing Bulls' (RB) Yuki Tsunoda for his first F1 practice session around Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez track. Hadjar drove decently in the first practice session as he finished P17. His fastest lap time was 1:21.941.
After the session, he spoke to his race engineer on RB's pit wall and expressed his excitement about finishing his first session in F1. His race engineer informed him that Lewis Hamilton was four seconds behind him on the track. Hadjar then asked whether the Mercedes star was pushing, and said he wished to wave at the seven-time world champion.
"Yep! Best day of my life, mate. That was incredible. Thank you. Is he pushing? I want to wave at Lewis! Haha," Hadjar said.
Unfortunately, the race engineer asked him to pick up the pace, which prevented Hadjar from interacting with Lewis Hamilton.
At the time, Isack Hadjar was racing in the F2 championship and finished 14th in the 2023 campaign. In 2024, however, he picked up the pace and managed to finish second in F2.
Despite not winning the feeder series championship, Red Bull gave the French-Algerian a golden chance to enter F1 with RB in 2025. The young driver will soon be sharing the track with Lewis Hamilton and other F1 legends in every session next year.
Isack Hadjar expresses his initial thoughts after being signed to the RB F1 team for 2025
After being announced as an RB driver, Isack Hadjar expressed his initial thoughts. In the official statement from the team, Hadjar said that he was extremely excited to get a chance in F1 after working hard in karting and feeder series. Claiming how entering the top single-seater series felt like going into 'a whole new universe', Hadjar said:
“I’m very excited to step into my new role at VCARB, this is huge for myself, my family and all the people who have believed in me from the beginning. The journey from karting through the ranks in single-seaters, to now being in Formula One is the moment I’ve been working towards my whole life, it is the dream. I feel like I’m stepping into a whole new universe, driving a much faster car and racing with the best drivers in the world," Hadjar said.
Isack Hadjar will be driving alongside Yuki Tsunoda at RB in 2025. The Red Bull junior's arrival in F1 finishes the grid for the 2025 season.