Isack Hadjar Returns to Red Bull at Baku After Injury

Isack Hadjar is back. Six weeks after a freak wrist fracture in the gym sidelined one of Red Bull’s brightest prospects, the Frenchman will return to the cockpit at this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, cleared to tackle one of Formula 1’s most unforgiving street circuits.

The injury, suffered during training on the eve of the Dutch GP at Zandvoort, left Hadjar unable to drive and forced Red Bull into a cautious holding pattern. He sat out three races – Netherlands, Italy and Spain – as the team refused to gamble on his long‑term fitness for the sake of a quick comeback.

For a driver who has grown up racing non-stop, the sudden silence hit hard.

“The last month has been tricky for me; it's the first time in my life that I've not been racing and that's a weird feeling to get used to,” he admitted, laying bare just how jarring the break had been. Now the tone has changed. He is, in his own words, “just so excited to get back into my car”.

Baku is no gentle reintroduction. The walls sit close, the speeds are huge, and the margin for error is almost non-existent. Hadjar knows it.

He stressed the need to arrive fully tuned in for a track where laps can unravel in an instant, calling it a circuit “you need to be locked in for from the very start of the weekend”. Red Bull, too, treated the decision with care. He thanked team principal Laurent Mekies and the wider squad “for their patience throughout this process; it was important not to rush the decision and now I feel ready to get back to what I do best – driving.”

While Hadjar healed, others seized their chance.

Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls’ regular, stepped up to the senior Red Bull seat and made his presence felt. Seventh at Zandvoort, sixth in Spain – solid, composed, and a timely reminder of his quality after a bruising start to 2025, when he was dropped by the main team after just two races.

Monza told a different story. An engine penalty dumped him at the back of the grid, and any hope of a charge vanished when contact with Nico Hulkenberg damaged his front wing and wrecked his race. The pace, though, was there.

“It's been overall quite positive,” Lawson reflected. “I managed to score in two of the three. I think Monza was tough just with the whole layout of the weekend, and then the engine penalty. Then obviously having damage in the race really ruined it for us. But I think overall we've had good speed.”

That brief audition now ends. With Hadjar restored to his seat, Lawson heads back to Racing Bulls, where the knock-on effect continues.

Yuki Tsunoda, who had been drafted in as Lawson’s stand-in at Racing Bulls, returns to his familiar reserve role. His cameo was short but sharp: he adapted quickly to the demands of the new‑generation F1 2026 machinery and grabbed a point at the Italian GP. That result still hangs in the balance, pending an Audi appeal over a grid formation issue after an early red flag, but the performance itself will not have gone unnoticed.

So the deck reshuffles again. Hadjar back at Red Bull, Lawson restored to Racing Bulls, Tsunoda waiting in the wings.

Baku, with its long straights and tight castle walls, will now offer the clearest answer yet: can Hadjar pick up where he left off, or has this enforced pause changed the rhythm of Red Bull’s future plans?