(Motorsport-Total.com) – Will Isack Hadjar be back in the race car at the 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku? This question could not yet be answered by Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies at the Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid. Because there is so far no indication whether Hadjar will be fit to race again after his hand injury.
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Mekies said: “We want to continue our previous approach unchanged and reassess the situation in a week. We want to see how he feels. Then we will expose him to realistic stresses in the simulator. If he then feels almost 100 percent fit, we will try it.”
However, Hadjar is not supposed to return to the race car at any cost. “If he feels that his recovery is not yet complete, we will stick to our approach and give priority to his full recovery,” Mekies explained. Because they do not want to jeopardize his recovery by a premature return.
Red Bull speaks of a “normal healing process”
According to Mekies, everything currently points to a normal healing process: “Isack is doing well. There are no problems. We have simply found that the recovery time for the type of injuries he has is basically within the normal range.” (Photo series: Tops and flops of Formula 1 reserve drivers)
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Hadjar suffered a hand injury during training in the Formula 1 summer break and has been out since then. In Zandvoort, Monza, and Madrid, he was replaced at Red Bull by Racing Bulls regular driver Liam Lawson. Lawson would also drive the second Red Bull alongside Max Verstappen in Baku if Hadjar has to miss again.
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Why Liam Lawson is caught between two stools because of Hadjar
Either way: The currently open situation forces Lawson to spend “a lot of time in the factory” and to do “a lot of additional preparation” for Baku. Because on the one hand, he has to prepare for a possible renewed deployment at Red Bull and on the other hand for a possible return to the Racing Bulls cockpit. “So the free week probably won’t be very free,” Lawson said in Madrid.
Because the decision for or against Hadjar will probably be made at short notice, Lawson has to be prepared for both eventualities: “For Baku, it might only be decided on Wednesday or Thursday which car I will drive. And it is mentally quite difficult to prepare when you don’t know which car you will drive.”
Positive for Lawson is that he has been able to get better and better used to the Red Bull RB22. “Now, at the end of the weekend, I feel quite comfortable in this car,” he explained. “The more time I spend in this car, the better for me. On the other hand, it would be quite difficult to switch back now.”