Pink Bull F1 staff boss Laurent Mequise needs Isaac Hajjar to “proceed to shock” when he companions Max Verstappen in 2026.
The French driver made his F1 debut with the Racing Bulls staff final season and made an impression all through the 24-race calendar.
Izak Hajar scored his first F1 factors with an eighth-place end in Japan, the third race of the 2025 season, and bested a sixth-place end in Monaco earlier within the season.
He achieved his first podium at Zandvoort after the summer time break, ending twelfth total, two locations forward of teammate Liam Lawson.
Hajar has earned promotion to Pink Bull’s essential staff, changing Hiroki Tsunoda, who languished at seventeenth within the rankings final season.
Pink Bull supervisor praises Hajjar’s first season as ‘unbelievable’
Promotion to Pink Bull from its sister staff has confirmed to be a toxic chalice for drivers in recent times, with the likes of Lawson and Tsunoda struggling to repeat their earlier 12 months’s type.
In a dialog with the official F1 web site, Mekies moved to mood expectations for the outcome, as a substitute hoping Hajar “continues to shock” as he did in 2025.
“Isaac had an unbelievable first season,” Mekies mentioned.
“There is no query that by way of beginning place, his beginning place when he began in January was excellent.
“And we consider strongly not solely in uncooked expertise, but additionally in a driver’s capability to develop.
“We have seen so many champions develop through the years and do issues with their automobiles that they would not have carried out just a few races in the past.
“We have seen that with Isaac this 12 months. We have seen him do issues with the automotive that he wasn’t doing three races in the past.”
He added: “We wish him to proceed down that path. We do not see that as a vacation spot.”
“We predict this can be a contemporary begin for him to proceed to develop, proceed to impress us and proceed to amaze us.
“And you’d count on it within the second 12 months. You’d count on it within the third 12 months, possibly the fourth 12 months. So it is a little bit journey for us.”
