The young Frenchman kept things pretty quiet over the winter, but early on, you can tell he’s settling in well inside one of Formula 1’s most high-pressure garages.

“I’m someone who really enjoys hard work, so I feel more comfortable here,” Hadjar said. “Honestly, I’m really happy working with people this committed to winning. I’m glad to be here. I feel lucky.”

He says everything’s running smoothly.

Hadjar even dropped a hint that he feels more at home at Red Bull than he did with Racing Bulls.

Most importantly, he says his relationship with reigning champ Max Verstappen is off to a good start.

“Max doesn’t hide anything,” he told Auto Hebdo. “He shares all the data and answers every question I have. And since he’s always so fast, I can actually compare our data.”

He also pointed out that Verstappen’s feedback always matches what shows up in the telemetry.

“He’s honest,” Hadjar said. “It matters to me that what a driver says lines up with the data. That really helps me improve.”

And it’s not just Hadjar who feels good about the fit. Two of Verstappen’s old teammates, Alexander Albon and Sergio Perez, have both thrown their support behind Hadjar.

“I think Isack’s quick, and the rule changes in 2026 are good for him. "It's a fresh start for everyone,” Albon said. “From what I’ve seen, he looks comfortable in the car. He’s got a lot to learn, especially with Max as his teammate, but I think he’ll do just fine.”

Perez agrees the timing’s right.

“He’s ready for Red Bull,” the Mexican said. “With all these regulation changes, and with his talent, if he keeps his cool this year, he’ll have a long, successful F1 career.”

“Being Max’s teammate at Red Bull, in such a strong team, that’s a huge opportunity.”

Hadjar’s keeping it real about the team’s current pace.

“We’re not the fastest; that’s just the truth,” he admitted. Right now, he puts Red Bull as the fourth-strongest team heading into Melbourne. Even finishing eighth wouldn’t feel like a setback; it’d just be a realistic place to start.

He says Ferrari looks especially strong, with Mercedes and McLaren not far behind.

Still, Hadjar’s staying positive.

“Our reliability is solid, and our race pace looks good,” he said. “At least early in the season, I expect we’ll be more competitive in the races than in qualifying.”

Williams F1 driver Carlos Sainz wants the FIA and Formula One Management to keep an open mind about the new regulations. He points out that, after some real-world running, there’s a chance they’ll need to tweak a few things.

With pre-season testing in Bahrain wrapped up, every team’s attention is on the first race in Australia, set for March 6-8. The new rules are a big deal this year; they call for a nearly 50:50 split between internal combustion and electric power, along with a pile of other changes. Sainz spoke to Motorsport.com about how tough energy harvesting could get at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

“Yeah, Melbourne’s going to be tougher, no doubt,” he said in Bahrain. “But honestly, I can’t say exactly how tough, because I haven’t run the simulator with the new calibrations for Melbourne yet.”

He went on, “My message to FOM and the FIA is pretty simple: at the start of the year, let’s stay open to making changes if it turns out these new rules are a bit over the top when it comes to energy harvesting or deployment during a lap. Some tracks might be fine, maybe even Bahrain, though I’m not fully convinced based on what we’ve seen so far.

“But tracks like Melbourne or Jeddah, where energy demands are higher, we might have to rethink things a bit.

“Honestly, it’s a huge shift for everyone. Nobody really knew how much drag or downforce these new cars would have, or what kind of deployment levels teams could manage. So all I’m asking is that we stay flexible, just in case we need to fine-tune things to keep the racing exciting.

“That’s really my only point. We should stay flexible, not lock ourselves into a set approach to energy management.”