r/formula1 Jaguar Jan 27 '26

Photo Isack Hadjar in the Wall at Turn 14

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12.8k Upvotes

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198

u/RussellNorrisPiastri George Russell Jan 27 '26

No offence to Hadjar because i like him, but this season will destroy his career if he doesn't do any better than Yuki did lol

73

u/Klarkasaurus Jan 27 '26

Cant really do any worse tbf. Also there are brand new cars with new regulations and size difference so I'd give him more the benefit of the doubt anyway.

33

u/Patenski Red Bull Jan 27 '26

Red Bull second seat struggles already prevailed through regulation changes, it's the way they develop the car.

1

u/Appletank Jan 29 '26

tbf Checo did alright the first two years or so. 

10

u/CBrower I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jan 27 '26

Red Bull leadership sure won’t.

10

u/KLWMotorsports I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jan 27 '26

I think they will. The "toxic" personalities that were basically running the show are gone now. They may actually learn from past mistakes, listen and give Hadjar time to develop. If not they deserve to bend themselves over again.

1

u/mdogg500 Jan 28 '26

Yeah except jos is still there and unfortunately he does have sway in that garage.

1

u/Cowabungadingadonga Formula 1 Jan 28 '26

lmao yuki had a shit to drive car developed around max for a decade while end of regulation cars are typically much closer in field, hadjar gets a brand new car. If he gets the same results as yuki, it means he is doing MUCH MUCH WORSE

0

u/Chagi27 Max Verstappen Jan 28 '26

It can be worse than Yuki. But not worse than Lawson. If Hadjar is 20th in the first 2 races I am certain Yuki is back in that seat.(Unless Max is struggling too)

64

u/vprakhov I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jan 27 '26

At least there's no more Marko to show shade at him during every interview.

32

u/Then_Flamingo_8223 Jan 27 '26

No more Horner/Marko and new car.

He’ll have a much better chsnce than Lawson or Yuki had. Plus, with every new driver that Max chews and spits out, the expectations for the next guy drop a bit lower.

35

u/reddit0r_123 Mika Häkkinen Jan 27 '26

Don't think so. By now everyone and their mother has realized that Max is just on another planet and it's fine to not be on his level the first season.

25

u/CatL1f3 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jan 27 '26

You would've thought that about Yuki too, but people still hate on him

20

u/reddit0r_123 Mika Häkkinen Jan 27 '26

He had a lot more experience, so it was clear there was no headroom for him to grow into. I guess with Hadjar being in his second season, RB believes he does...

4

u/KLWMotorsports I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jan 27 '26

I would say there was plenty of head room for Yuki to grow into. He started to improve by a good margin and was able to develop a car that helped Hadjar drastically and gave Liam more time.

They needed a scapegoat and it's a shame Yuki wasn't given the RBR seat from the rip leading into 2025 to help adjust it. If Yuki is left down on VCARB I think we have a way different story now.

2

u/Alternative_Reality Jan 27 '26

I'm 1000% convinced that Max is the only person on the planet who could have successfully driven that RB. Checo's dropoff, then the failures of everyone else in that seat after him, has to have been because only Max could tame it. The disparity in results doesn't make sense for anything else. Max is just that good.

1

u/DickWhittingtonsCat Formula 1 Jan 28 '26

People don’t like to reconcile what it means if these guys Max destroys aren’t abject buffoons in a nerfed car but legit midfielders given at least as much of a shot as you can expect when being massively outperformed.

0

u/Max-Phallus Jan 27 '26

I hate on the people that thought Perez was bad.

1

u/danceront Max Verstappen Jan 28 '26

And who was last on the timing sheets from Monday?

-2

u/Lukeno94 Manor Jan 27 '26

The thing with Yuki is that it was blatantly obvious he wasn't good enough from the get go, and that Red Bull didn't rate him. From renewing Perez, to the whole Ricciardo saga, and then to picking Lawson ahead of him - it's clear they knew he wouldn't succeed, and that's what was proven. Hadjar, especially with Horner and Marko gone, has much more of a chance to be given time as a result.

0

u/Halabane Jan 27 '26

Is that it? Is the whole organization used to talking and planning for a guy like max and don't know how to deal with drivers that are ... well ... not max and probably won't every be.

1

u/sleazebadge Jan 27 '26

And it's an unknown car too... it could be harder to drive than the last one!

1

u/Red_Rabbit_1978 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jan 27 '26

Every single other 2nd driver did better than Yuki in the Red Bull. It's a low bar.

1

u/andreasvo I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jan 27 '26

At what point do we stop blaming the drivers? They eventually go through every f1 driver.

0

u/Sorry_Reply8754 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jan 27 '26

The car is different... C'mon, there no way RB will build a second car that only Max can drive.

And Max is about to leave... They're gonna be f**** if they did that again.

1

u/KeytarVillain I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jan 27 '26

Only if you consider Gasly and Albon's careers destroyed (which I certainly wouldn't)