Kimi Antonelli stormed onto the Formula 1 track last season as a rookie and has a chance to become the youngest F1 champion ever this weekend at the United States Grand Prix in Austin.
Isack Hadjar, however, is a fellow sophomore whose name you should know. Last year, he had his first podium with a third-place finish at the Dutch Grand Prix and tied Antonelli with 16 appearances in Q3. After being a member of the Red Bull Junior Team since 2022 and making his F1 debut with Visa CashApp Racing Bulls last year, he was promoted to Oracle Red Bull Racing, home of four-time champion Max Verstappen and back-to-back winners of the team title.
"It’s great, you know," he told USA TODAY Sports in an interview on behalf of AT&T on Wednesday ahead of the
USGP. "I’m lucky, but at the same time, that was always the target being on the Junior Team. That was always my goal more than five years ago now. So yeah, it's a great privilege to be racing for World Champions."
This year, Hadjar, 22, has had a roller coaster of a season. At the esteemed Monaco Grand Prix, there was controversy over Pierre Gasly's pit lane penalty that gave Hadjar third place, then took it away, then reinstated it. He finished third outright for another podium at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and then, since his car was being upgraded, started from pit lane at the last race, the Singapore Grand Prix, and climbed all the way to 10th place.
Hadjar said the rockiness was not surprising, especially this year under new regulations. The new speculations for the cars include smoother floors, which means less downforce, and no more DRS. Fans might be disappointed that the racing technique powered by a rear flap is gone, but now both the front and rear flaps can be manipulated throughout the race in a new technology called Active Aero.
"It's normal to have up and downs when it's a brand new regulation, new sets of cars," the French-Algerian driver said. "So you've got to expect to have a lot of challenges ahead. ...
"To be honest, the approach we have by now is like focusing more on next year. And if you've got to make mistakes or having downs, you want to do them at the start of a project, not when you start getting up to speed."
The last time Formula 1 introduced new regulations was in 2022 and Red Bull Racing caught on quickly. And not only caught on, but flew way ahead of the pack. Verstappen had a historic 2023 season where he earned 10 consecutive race wins and a record 12 wins from pole position en route to capturing the Drivers' Championship. Red Bull Racing won the Constructors' Championship for the second consecutive season, winning every race that year but one.
AT&T has been a connectivity partner with Red Bull Racing for more than a decade and renewed its sponsorship in 2024. Although Hadjar and Verstappen are the faces of the sport, hundreds of people power each team. Hadjar explained how speed and efficiency in communication between drivers, engineers and other crew at the track and at the headquarters is essential.
"(AT&T helps) communication from track to the opps room back in the U.K. to get us data, live data, telemetry for us to get the the right information," he said. "... It's a lot of work. There's there's so many accents on the F1 car, and it's a lot to take home this year. Even with telemetry, there's not everything you can feel. Even times where I feel stuff that they can't even see yet, so there's a lot of things to digest to treat."
Hadjar said he's grateful to be learning under Verstappen, who also made a splash early in his career. In 2015, he made his debut at the age of 17, making him the youngest driver to race in F1.
"There's so many things that I'm still learning at this point of my very early stage in my career," Hadjar said. "... Being teammates with a four-time world champion has just every weekend, setting the bar very, very high. ... It's tough."
He's also been enjoying racing alongside another famous F1 name, seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, who he's admired since he was a child. Part of what made Hadjar's journey last season so endearing was that photos circulated of a young Hadjar meeting his idol. When Hadjar crashed on the formation lap ahead of the Australian Grand Prix, the first race of the season, Hamilton's father, Anthony, comforted the rookie. When Hamilton's beloved dog, Roscoe, passed away last year, Hadjar was among those who publicly checked in on him.
"(Lewis) was the one I looked up to most of my career, going up through the ranks," he said, "and now I'm in a position where we fight every weekend to get the the podiums and to do that next to someone like Lewis, it's definitely special."
Something that Hamilton has long-advocated for as he's sought increased diversity in the sport is for Formula 1's return to Africa. The motorsport series has not raced on the continent since 1993, more than 30 years ago. Last week,F1 announced that there will be a race in Rwanda starting in the 2030s.
Hadjar is half Algerian and expressed slight disappointment in the site of the competition, which will be called the African Grand Prix, representing the entire continent. But he still appreciates the expansion of the race calendar.
"I would love to go to North Africa because it's more like my roots," he shared, "but it's good to switch up a little bit and go to, basically, unlock new places. I've been to Rwanda before. I love gorillas, silverback gorillas."
For now, Hadjar focuses on the United States Grand Prix, where he finished 16th last year as a rookie. However, Verstappen has had significant success at COTA. He won last year's race and had a three-peat streak from 2021 to 2023. The2023 victory marked his 50th F1 race win.
"It's a car that's been fighting for wins now, and we want to keep it that way," Hadjar said. "It’s a very challenging track. Austin’s been good to Red Bull in the past, so why not?"
Besides the intense racing, F1 always has some fun in Austin with cowboy culture and interacting with their American fans. The COTA race, established in 2012, is the longest-running of the three U.S. races. Hadjar was doing an AT&T-sponsored meet-and-greet-with fans later on Wednesday and he said that his girlfriend enjoys country music. He also is a fan of brisket and, while the PR team was telling him that Terry Black's is the place he's gone to before, he said he wants to find a hidden gem.
"We need to find something where people don't really go," he said, "so it's more niche."
If Antonelli is Terry Black's, perhaps Hadjar is the hidden gem waiting to be embraced.
When is the 2026 F1 United States Grand Prix?
Qualifying
- Time: 5 p.m. ET
- Date: Saturday, Oct. 24
Race
- Time: 4 p.m. ET
- Date: Sunday, Oct. 25
How to watch
- TV/Stream: Apple TV
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Rising F1 star Isack Hadjar discusses USGP in Austin, highs and lows of season
