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No Hadjar alongside Verstappen: Why that's very bad for Red Bull Racing

GPblog (EN) · Ludo van Denderen · 2026-08-20T06:35:05+00:00 · nguồn gốc

The wrist injury Isack Hadjar has sustained creates problems not only for the Frenchman but also for Red Bull Racing. The team will be seriously disappointed, as substitute Liam Lawson cannot be expected to deliver the same performance as Hadjar. When Max Verstappen walks into the Red Bull Energy Station this Thursday, he won't run into Isack Hadjar. The Frenchman is at home recovering from an annoying wrist injury. For the final Dutch GP for the foreseeable future, the Frenchman would of course have liked things to be different. He even had a special helmet ready, which fans may now never get to see Hadjar wear in action. It portrayed his first-ever F1 podium a year ago with Racing Bulls. The current Red Bull driver sustained his injury during training in the run-up to the first Grand Prix after the summer break. GPblog understands that he is now dealing with a fracture in his wrist, although Red Bull will not confirm that. Reports that Hadjar has a broken hand are, in any case, incorrect. For now, Hadjar is only missing Zandvoort For the time being, Red Bull expects Hadjar to be unavailable only for the Zandvoort race. This website understands that his situation will be evaluated again after the Dutch Grand Prix. What helps Hadjar and the team is that the Italian Grand Prix will take place two weeks later. The Spanish GP will then follow immediately after. The injury is inconvenient not only for Hadjar but also for Red Bull Racing. The team would have preferred to have a driver alongside Verstappen who knows the RB22 well and can help further develop the car. Lawson, who replaces the Frenchman, has experience with the new generation of Formula 1 cars at Racing Bulls, but that car is quite different from the RB22. Moreover, the New Zealander has not had any time to prepare for the switch. It will also be a Sprint weekend at Zandvoort, meaning he will have just a single practice session to get up to speed. No one should blame Lawson if he cannot provide the same level of feedback to his engineers as Hadjar or if he does not immediately secure a strong result. Red Bull understands this as well and had envisioned the start of the F1 season's second half quite differently.