Isack Hadjar has impressed everybody this season with his performances at Racing Bulls in F1, also attracting the attention of none other than the seven-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton.
The Racing Bulls driver is one of six rookies to make their full-time debut in F1 this season, and currently finds himself as the second-best debutant in the standings, one place behind Kimi Antonelli in eighth.
Hadjar is now being considered as the front-running candidate to partner Max Verstappen at Red Bull next season as a result of the promising start to his F1 career.
Current rookie standings in the 2025 F1 season
The Frenchman is open to the possibility. Hadjar has made a U-turn on his Red Bull aspirations, stating that he is now ready to step into the front-running team after previously being hesitant due to the difficulties that drivers have previously faced at the team.
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Lewis Hamilton was looking forward to racing Isack Hadjar at the Dutch Grand Prix
In a recent documentary series following Hadjar’s rookie F1 season by French broadcaster Canal+, producers caught a number of interactions between Hamilton and the Frenchman during the Dutch Grand Prix weekend.
As well as securing a podium in Sunday’s race, the 20-year-old also claimed his best grid slot of the season as he set the fourth fastest time in qualifying to line up alongside Red Bull’s Verstappen.
During the driver’s parade ahead of the Grand Prix, Hadjar approached Hamilton before the seven-time world champion congratulated him on the P4 starting position by saying, “Great job yesterday, amazing!”
Hadjar replied, “Yeah, it was a good lap.”
Hamilton then praised the performance of the Racing Bulls 2025 car, telling Hadjar, “You guys are quick. The car is looking so good this year.”
In another moment in the driver’s parade, the Frenchman excitedly told Hamilton, “I’m racing you today, man! I’m racing you! It’s going to be so good, I can’t wait!”
The 40-year-old referenced the preceding race in Hungary, where the Ferrari driver finished in 12th behind Hadjar in 11th, joking, “In the last race, I couldn’t get past you!”
Hamilton was full of praise for Hadjar following his third-place finish in the race, calling him a ‘legend’ in the latter’s Instagram debrief of the weekend and congratulating him again in Hamilton’s own Instagram post.
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Lewis Hamilton believes Isack Hadjar has a ‘bright future’ ahead of him in F1
The veteran seven-time world champion has shown a lot of love to the rookie class of the 2025 F1 season.
Hamilton had an open conversation with Antonelli regarding the young Italian’s struggles at Mercedes during his debut season in the pinnacle of motorsport.
There isn’t much better advice that Antonelli could have received than from the man he replaced at the team he won six drivers’ titles with.
Regarding Hadjar, Hamilton told Canal+, “It’s really great to see him continue to grow as a driver. And he’s a lovely lad, so he’s got a bright future ahead of him.”
Gabriel Bortoleto also took inspiration from Hamilton to record his career-best finish to date at the Hungarian GP in August.
The young Brazilian stayed over with his Sauber engineers as they broke curfew to work on the car ahead of FP3 and qualifying the following day.