When Isack Hadjar first drove a Formula One car, there was something very familiar about the feeling. He paused for a beat, and then the nostalgia washed over him. The vibrations, the nerves and, of course, the speed; it all reminded Hadjar of the first time he sat in a go-kart as a five-year-old. It was that maiden encounter—with an engine and, its ever-present co-pilot, adrenaline—that would shape the next 15 years of his life.
Hadjar, now 20, has come a long way since that moment at the Saint-Benoît karting track in France. When he takes to Melbourne’s Albert Park Circuit this weekend (March 16), the precocious French-Algerian driver will become the first Arab to race in Formula One. Making his debut for the Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team at the Australian Grand Prix, Hadjar is representing more than just his family and his country.
“It’s huge to be the first ever Arab F1 driver,” Hadjar tells Esquire Middle East at the Racing Bulls’ HQ in Faenza, Italy. “I feel the support from people of my background. I receive messages not only from French people but lots of Arab fans.
“I just hope to inspire kids more in the region to get out there and have a go at racing. I want to be a role model, the first one at least.”
Hadjar’s motorsport ascent is certainly aspirational. He only swapped karting for the single-seater French F4 series in 2019. Since then, the young driver has moved seamlessly through the ranks—cutting his teeth in Formula 3 and then Formula 2, the primary feeder competition for F1.
“What I love about racing is the moments,” he explains. “Like when you need to pull a lap time out of nowhere in qualifying. This is adrenaline.
“It’s not so much about the speed the cars go. Yes, this is great fun, but you’re not really enjoying it because you have such pressure. Fighting for the race wins, fighting with the other guys—this is what excites me; it is the purity of the competition.”
For an ambitious athlete like Hadjar there have been some tough breaks to deal with in his nascent career. Losing the F2 title on the final day of the 2024 season was one such cruel circumstance, but Hadjar’s disappointment was tempered by the knowledge that he would soon move to the Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team and, with it, achieve a long-held racing dream.
“It’s what you aim for since you start in a go-kart,” says a smiling Hadjar, dressed in a simple black sweatshirt. “Racing in F1 is not the end goal, but it’s part of it.
“Of course [there are nerves ahead of the season]. You don’t want to disappoint yourself and you want to be on it straight away—but obviously there is this big learning phase, it’s huge. I know it’s going to be really hard—it’s the hardest thing there is because it’s F1.”
Within the first six weeks of his Formula One career, Hadjar will have two Grands Prix in the Middle East, with Bahrain and Saudi Arabia hosting back-to-back races in April. Then in November, the season will reach its climax back in the Gulf, with the Qatar and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix.
“I feel really at home in these places and I’ve done pretty well too—they are all good tracks,” Hadjar explains. “I have really good memories of Bahrain especially because I won my first F3 race there.
“Obviously the people there and the culture is good for me because it’s part of my background. It’s not actually a home race, of course, but it doesn’t feel like travelling to Melbourne for example. It is more natural and familiar to me.”
Born to Algerian parents in France, the Arab influence has been strong in Hadjar’s life and he has frequently highlighted the impact his mum and dad have had on his racing career.
“I grew up around hearing engines because my dad did amateur karting and would always watch the F1 on a Sunday,” says Hadjar, whose parents romantically recall how he held tightly onto a little toy car until he first had the opportunity to drive a real one.
“I was five years old when I drove my first baby kart and I would say if you compare the feeling, it was as crazy as my first F1 test. The vibrations and the speed was really scary, but also amazing.”
When Hadjar began competing, it was his father who ferried him from race to race—doing “so many kilometers on the road travelling around Europe” —and he also became his son’s primary mechanic, despite being entirely self-taught.
“He learned on the job as he had no idea how it worked at the start but somehow he managed to do the most for his kid,” Hadjar says. “On the other side, my mum was the one fighting for sponsorship. She’s still my manager so we’re a good family team.”
It was this strong foundation that helped Hadjar make it all the way to F1. His first outing in a Formula One car for Red Bull came at free practice at the 2023 Mexico Grand Prix.
On a slippery track, and racing at high altitude, it was a challenging start.
“It was not the greatest conditions but it still blew my mind,” Hadjar recalls. “The car was so powerful and just the high speed corners were amazing. It was just ridiculous because you get used to F2 and then you go to F1 and find out it’s a whole different planet.”
This new world is one that Hadjar is still getting used to. It involves a myriad of media appearances and relentless training in the Red Bull simulator. He has moved away from home for the first time to be near the Visa Cash App Racing Bulls’ HQ in Italy and is still getting to grips with living on his own. Beyond that, there is the surreal prospect of being on the F1 grid with many of the heroes who he watched on TV with his dad as a child.
One of those was two-time world champion Fernando Alonso, whose first ever Grand Prix victory in Formula One came in 2004, the year before Hadjar was born. In 2025, 43-year-old Alonso is back on the F1 grid for Aston Martin, and is set to extend his record-breaking total of 401 race starts in Formula One.
“I have known him basically since I was born,” Hadjar laughs. “As long as I have been watching F1, Alonso has been there. It’s weird to race guys like this—Lewis [Hamilton] as well—because I’ve watched them since I was kid.
“For both Lewis and Fernando, the longevity is incredible—keeping that level for so many years, it just shows how much passion they have for the sport.”
As part of the wider Red Bull Racing family, Hadjar also has a ready-made mentor in reigning double world champion Max Verstappen. The Dutch driver is one of several big names to have trodden the same path on which Hadjar currently finds himself—with the likes of Sebastian Vettel and Carlos Sainz Jr. also starting with Red Bull’s junior outfit before progressing through to the main F1 team.
“Max is just the complete racing driver—he has no weaknesses,” Hadjar states matter-of-factly. “I remember watching him in karting—a fast and super aggressive driver. When Red Bull signed me I was so happy because this was the team I always wanted to race for.”
Hadjar is confident he is in the right place to hasten his development, with Red Bull boasting an impressive record for producing not only Grand Prix winners, but world champions.
“Red Bull has brought so many other successful names into Formula 1 and I feel loyal to them because they’ve given me this trust and this path— it’s a great privilege.
“No one driver is perfect, but the team can be. I think Red Bull just has a really successful, talented group of people. Their approach has made them the dominant team in the last 15 years.”
Remarkably, 20-year-old Isack Hadjar is only the fourth-youngest driver on the Formula One grid this season, with Oliver Bearman (Haas-Ferrari), Gabriel Bortoleto (Kick Sauber-Ferrari) and Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) all greener in terms of their age. Bearman and Bortoleto are among several F1 opponents with whom Hadjar has battled before.
“It’s good to be facing guys I’ve been racing with since go-karts and it’s cool to see ourselves in Formula 1,” he says. “But it doesn’t take any pressure off just because I know them—good drivers know how to race. I’ll forget about them once I’m in the car.”
Outside of motorsport, Hadjar has found inspiration in the endeavours and personality of Muhammad Ali. The boxing icon’s “charisma” and “strong character” always resonated with the young French driver, whose childhood was spent dreaming of conquering his own sport.
“To be so smart and also represent such important values in life when doing an very aggressive sport—no-one could do it like that,” Hadjar says of Ali. “He is the greatest.”
But Hadjar is on a different sporting journey—nonetheless one that places him on a pedestal for many who see a part of themselves in him. Ahead of a history-making debut season in F1, Hadjar hopes that he can be an athlete who opens doors for other young motorsport-mad Arabs with designs on becoming professional racing drivers.
“I guess I’m showing them the path a bit,” Isack Hadjar says. “Because I’m the first I want to be someone who they can identify with. That’s certainly the plan. It is what fuels me.”