Photo: Red Bull
Isack Hadjar will make his Formula 1 free practice debut at the Mexico City Grand Prix this weekend with AlphaTauri.
He will be driving in the opening session, and taking over the car that is raced by Yuki Tsunoda.
Hadjar is a junior driver of the Red Bull organisation that owns the AlphaTauri team, and he is currently racing in Formula 2. With one round to go of his rookie season he sits 14th in the standings with one podium finish and a fastest lap.
All F1 teams are mandated to use ‘rookie’ drivers, those without less three F1 races to their name, in two practice sessions during the season.
As rookies Nyck de Vries and the Liam Lawson raced for AlphaTauri earlier this year as Tsunoda’s team-mate, it means that requirement has already been met with their second car. Red Bull Racing however is yet to hand over either of its cars yet for a practice session, meaning Hadjar could make a second F1 weekend appearance at one of the two rounds following Mexico.
AlphaTauri has already decided on retaining Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda as its 2024 line-up, and Hadjar is all but guaranteed to be spending a second season in F2 with a switch of teams from Hitech GP, who he is racing for this year.
Before F2, Hadjar won four races across two seasons in French Formula 4, took two wins apiece in Formula Regional’s Asian and European championships, and won three races in his single season in FIA Formula 3 with Hitech in 2022.