Autobayng News Team
Lewis Hamilton admitted he is concerned about Isack Hadjar’s forthcoming move to Red Bull, which the team announced earlier this week.
The 21-year-old, who made his Formula 1 debut with Red Bull’s second team Racing Bulls this year, is being promoted to the top team for 2025.
He will partner reigning world champion Max Verstappen at the team next year. However Verstappen’s recent team mates have performed poorly in Red Bull’s second car.
Hamilton said that gives him cause for concern over Hadjar’s chances next year. “I only found out about it today,” he told the official Formula 1 channel, “I’m not going to lie that it doesn’t worry me.
“I think he’s done an amazing job this year and he’s still very, very young, he’s still learning a lot about himself and his surroundings. But he’s done a phenomenal job this year and he’s got a great approach.
“We all know what happens when people go to Red Bull and the environment that you’re thrown into. Obviously I’ve not been there so I can’t tell from experience but looking from the outside it’s obviously quite difficult and where he is [at Racing Bulls], he’s got, it seems, a really good environment.”
Hadjar will replace Yuki Tsunoda, who is in his fifth season in Formula 1, but has scored just 30 points to Verstappen’s 360 during their time as team mates.
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“Yuki is an amazing driver but every driver that goes there has this general experience,” said Hamilton. “But it doesn’t mean those drivers aren’t great, it’s clearly something else.
“So I just hope that there are changes made that provide him with the right support.”
Verstappen said he wants a team mate who is “good in developing the car with the team” to raise its level of competitiveness.
“[You want] good understanding between the drivers. Friendly, funny, open-minded, not hiding things throughout the weekend between the two drivers.
“In general, just trying to push the team forward. I think that’s the most important. If you are good friends off-track, that’s a nice bonus but not necessarily needed, as long as you are very professional on-track and it benefits the team.”
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