F1 / NEWS & CONTEXT

Hadjar to stay alongside Verstappen at Red Bull in 2027

Isack Hadjar will remain Max Verstappen’s team-mate at Red Bull in 2027. The contract extension comes shortly before his planned return in Azerbaijan, after he missed three races with a wrist injury.

GPBeat · Newsroom23 Sept 2026, 15:15 · 2 min

With the extension announced on 23 September, Red Bull is keeping its driver line-up intact for 2027. Hadjar says he is excited to be staying with the team. He wants to develop further by continuing to listen, learn and challenge himself.

Team principal Laurent Mekies calls the contract extension a straightforward decision. He says Hadjar has performed strongly both on and off the track, particularly for someone who is only in his second Formula 1 season. That is his employer’s assessment. Mekies also presents the new contract as a show of confidence following Hadjar’s injury.

The Frenchman missed the past three races with a wrist injury. His return is scheduled for this coming weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix. That announced return does not in itself establish that he has made a full medical recovery.

Stability and results

Formula1.com, RacingNews365 Nederland, France’s AUTOhebdo and Britain’s Autosport report the same core news: Hadjar will continue to race alongside Verstappen in 2027. Their emphases differ. RacingNews365 highlights the stability following the changes involving Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda in 2025. AUTOhebdo sees the extension as a logical next step following Hadjar’s successful integration and is positive about how close he is to Verstappen, without quantifying the gap.

Autosport places greater emphasis on his performances in the historically difficult second Red Bull seat. The outlet reports that Hadjar is eighth in the championship despite his absence. It also mentions his first podium for Red Bull, in Monaco, and seven consecutive top-six finishes. Those specific results are mentioned only by Autosport in the available source material.

The four publications use the same comments from Hadjar, either in the original language or in translation. Those shared statements surrounding the announcement therefore do not constitute separate interviews or independent confirmations.

The extension does not automatically settle the line-up at sister team Racing Bulls. AUTOhebdo expects Lawson and Arvid Lindblad to stay there, but Autosport stresses that the driver line-up for 2027 has not yet been confirmed. It therefore remains an expectation, not an additional contract announcement.

Sources 04

SOURCERed Bull announce new contract extension with Hadjar for 2027 ahead of his return in AzerbaijanFormula 1 · Source date as found: 2026-09-23
PRIMARY SOURCEHadjar reacts to contract extension at Red BullRacingNews365 Nederland · Source date as found: 2026-09-23
SOURCEIsack Hadjar will again be Max Verstappen’s team-mate at Red Bull in 2027AUTOhebdo · Source date as found: 2026-09-23
SOURCEHadjar to partner Verstappen at Red Bull for F1 2027Autosport · Source date as found: 2026-09-23

Source context

The original Red Bull press release and separate results tables were not supplied. The publications share the same comments from Hadjar; the results cited come only from Autosport.

Claims and supporting evidence 8

Red Bull announced on 23 September 2026 that Isack Hadjar would continue to race alongside Max Verstappen in 2027. Formula1.com, RacingNews365 Nederland, AUTOhebdo and Autosport agree on this core element of the announcement.

This finding from the sources should be read within the stated scope and source context. Contract extension at Red Bull. Announcement on 23 September 2026; 2027 season. His stay for 2027 is confirmed, not a more precisely specified contract term or a guarantee for later seasons. Agreement between publications about the same announcement does not amount to four independent confirmations.

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Hadjar says he is excited to be continuing at Red Bull. He describes listening, learning and challenging himself further as his focus for the period ahead.

This finding from the sources should be read within the stated scope and source context. Hadjar’s reaction. Comments accompanying the announcement on 23 September 2026. This is Hadjar’s own description of his motivation and ambitions, not a measured improvement or a prediction of future results.

[2]

Team principal Laurent Mekies calls the extension a straightforward decision because of Hadjar’s performance on and off the track, which he considers all the more remarkable given that Hadjar is only in his second Formula 1 season. Mekies also presents the extension as a show of confidence following Hadjar’s injury.

This finding from the sources should be read within the stated scope and source context. Red Bull’s reasoning. Assessment of the 2026 season at the time of the contract announcement. The descriptions of Hadjar’s performance are assessments by his employer, not an independent measure of performance.

[1]

Hadjar missed the three previous races with a wrist injury. At the time of the contract announcement, his return was planned for that weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

This finding from the sources should be read within the stated scope and source context. Injury and announced return as context for the contract. The three races preceding 23 September 2026; the upcoming race weekend in Azerbaijan. At the time of publication, the return had been announced, not already completed. The texts do not constitute a medical determination of full recovery.

[1]

Autosport reports that Hadjar is eighth in the drivers’ standings despite missing three races. The outlet mentions his first podium for Red Bull in Monaco and a run of seven consecutive top-six finishes. Autosport also assesses the Red Bull as the third- or fourth-fastest car for much of the season; that last point is the outlet’s assessment, not a speed ranking substantiated here.

This finding from the sources should be read within the stated scope and source context. Performance context added by Autosport. The 2026 season up to and including 23 September, before the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Eighth place and the run of seven top-six finishes are specified only by Autosport in the supplied material. No separate results or championship table was supplied. Monaco is described as Hadjar’s first podium for Red Bull, not his first Formula 1 podium.

[4]

RacingNews365 Nederland emphasises greater stability alongside Verstappen following the changes involving Lawson and Tsunoda in 2025. France’s AUTOhebdo presents the extension primarily as a logical consequence of Hadjar’s successful integration and takes a positive view of his gap to Verstappen. Britain’s Autosport highlights his speed in a historically difficult second Red Bull seat and adds specific standings and results data. These are different emphases in coverage of the same contract development, not conflicting versions of the confirmed extension.

This finding from the sources should be read within the stated scope and source context. Comparison of emphases in the media coverage reviewed. Publications of 23 September 2026. The performance assessments remain attributed to the named outlets. AUTOhebdo does not quantify the proximity to Verstappen. The outlets’ countries are recorded in the supplied source metadata; these publications do not represent national views.

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AUTOhebdo expects Hadjar’s extension to lead to the retention of the Racing Bulls pairing of Lawson and Lindblad. Autosport, by contrast, explicitly states that Racing Bulls has not yet confirmed its line-up for 2027 and also names junior driver Nikola Tsolov as an available candidate. AUTOhebdo’s expectation is therefore not an established further contract development.

This finding from the sources should be read within the stated scope and source context. Difference in certainty about the implications for Racing Bulls. The state of reporting on 23 September 2026 regarding the 2027 season. This is a difference between an expectation and an explicit caveat, not necessarily a factual contradiction. Hadjar’s confirmed extension does not in itself determine the Racing Bulls contracts.

[3][4]

The four publications use the same comments from Hadjar, in English or in translation. These matching passages form part of the shared material surrounding the contract announcement and do not count as separate interviews or independent confirmations of his statements.

This finding from the sources should be read within the stated scope and source context. Shared origin of the published comments. Coverage of the contract announcement of 23 September 2026. The shared origin is inferred from the comments’ matching content and wording. The original Red Bull press release was not supplied separately. This finding does not prove that all the outlets’ additional context has the same origin.

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This article was produced with AI assistance. Source references make its supporting evidence traceable.