According to Christian Horner, new Racing Bulls driver Isack Hadjar was immediately quicker than his new teammate, Yuki Tsunoda. The Japanese driver was snubbed for the second Red Bull Racing seat in favour of Liam Lawson earlier this week.
Hadjar impresses Horner in Abu Dhabi
And to add insult to injury, Hadjar was quicker in last week’s post-season test, says the Red Bull boss.
Nonetheless, Horner is aware that Hadjar has stuff to work on. The Frenchman is known for his fiery radio messages when things are not going his way.
“Isack, he’s another talent — he jumped in the car, he was faster than Yuki in the test last week, which turned heads,” the 51 year old team boss said. “He’s definitely a raw talent — he needs a little bit of polishing, but he has the speed.”
Hadjar was in the fight for the Formula 2 title right until the last race, when this year’s software issue with the Formula 2 cars struck the Campos Racing driver at the start. It dropped him one lap down and out of contention for the title.
“He was unfortunate in Formula 2 to miss out at the last race due to technical glitches with start-line software, from what I understand, but he’s impressed as well. Particularly with his speed. It will be interesting to see how things pan out.”
Is 2025 the last year for Tsunoda at the junior team?
The arrival of Hadjar leaves Red Bull with a tough decision to make for 2026 regarding Tsunoda. Next year will be Tsunoda’s fifth year at Racing Bulls, quite long for a ‘bridesmaid’, according to Horner.
“We’re acutely aware that if we’re not able to provide an opportunity for Yuki – being, in all honesty, this year [2025] – does it make sense [to keep him]?” the Briton explained.
“You can’t have a driver in the support team for five years. You can’t always be the bridesmaid.
“You’ve either got to let them go at that point or look at something different.”
The Japanese driver is ready to pounce
Horner had a word with Tsunoda after the news broke that Lawson will go to Red Bull and he gets Hadjar as team mate.
“I spoke with Yuki. He said he was enjoying having some wagyu beef while he was on his time out, but his motivation was to demonstrate that he warrants that opportunity.
“The Racing Bulls team will hopefully make a step forward again next year as they utilise the [Red Bull] rear suspension and the gearbox, and the aspects that they’re allowed to use.
“As that team and new management matures, that team will naturally take a step forward.“
Tsunoda has his Honda links, meaning that a transfer to Aston Martin might be waiting in the wings. But with things moving quickly in the current world of Formula 1, Tsunoda needs to be ready to pounce. And he knows that, according to Horner.
“I think he’s very determined,” Horner explains. “He knows that things change very quickly.
“Who would’ve thought nine months ago we’d be sitting here talking about Liam Lawson being our driver for 2025?
“Things change quickly in this industry and he’s aware of that and knows that he needs to be the one demonstrating that he’s the one knocking on the door.”
