Isack Hadjar has been confirmed at Red Bull for the 2027 season, and the timing says it all: fourth on the grid and a second-place finish in Baku were apparently all it took to seal his future with the team.

The Azerbaijan result gave Red Bull their first double podium of the year, arriving just weeks after Hadjar returned from injury, with Liam Lawson having filled in during his absence. It followed an earlier third-place podium in Monaco, so the Frenchman’s case was already building before Baku sealed it.

Team boss Laurent Mekies was effusive about the youngster’s growth, saying it “shows you how cleverly the kid is racing, and how much brain capacity he is developing” while keeping his emotions in check behind the wheel. What impressed Mekies most, though, wasn’t outright pace — it was Hadjar’s choice not to challenge teammate Max Verstappen for position despite reportedly having the speed to do it.

There’s a neat irony here: in a sport built on the instinct to pass anything in front of you, Hadjar earned his 2027 seat partly by choosing not to. Red Bull, it seems, values a driver who can manage a garage full of egos just as much as one who can manage a chassis.

Source: RacingNews365 (https://racingnews365.com/red-bull-point-to-key-indicators-behind-isack-hadjar-justification)