While Max Verstappen is grabbing headlines, Isack Hadjar is racking up points. From Canada to Hungary, the Frenchman hasn't left the top six. Formula 1 considers this consistency the best run of form for a French driver since Alain Prost in 1993. It's not a title fight yet, but by making sixth place his permanent home, Hadjar is starting to seriously worry the established order.
En Formula 1Sixth place generally doesn't trigger either a track invasion or a champagne shortage. Isaac HadjarYet, it has become the symbol of a progression that is as discreet as it is relentless.
Since the Canadian Grand Prix, the driver Red Bull followed up with the following results: fifth, fourth, sixth, sixth, fifth, sixth and sixth again. Seven consecutive races in the top 6, without a disqualifying accident, without a completely missed Sunday and without a mysterious disappearance to the bottom of the standings.
F1 points out that no Frenchman had achieved such a streak since Alain Prost in 1993. The comparison is flattering, even if Hadjar obviously doesn't need to clear a shelf yet to install four world champion trophies.
Seven races and 64 points: Hadjar has found the "consistency" button.
Hadjar He now has 68 points in the championship, 64 of which were scored in this series alone. In other words, almost his entire season has been built between Montreal and Budapest, with the consistency of a driver who seems to have programmed his Red Bull to automatically finish between fourth and sixth place.
The Frenchman occupies eighth position in the championship, just behind Oscar piastri and 41 points behind his teammate Max Verstappen. He also has a 26-point lead over Pierre Gasly, second French driver in the standings. Hadjar Therefore, it does not yet play in the same accounting category as VerstappenBut he accomplishes precisely what Red Bull has long awaited his second car: to remain visible, score regularly and avoid the constructors' standings relying on a single driver accompanied by a passenger seat.
There are worse ways to start a career at Red Bull.
In Budapest, even a recalcitrant Red Bull wasn't enough to knock him out of the top 6.
The Hungarian Grand Prix perfectly encapsulates the new version ofIsaac HadjarThe RB22 proved difficult for much of the weekend. Verstappen He himself admitted that he did not fully understand his behavior in qualifying. Hadjar He didn't find the car wonderful either, but he qualified eighth before climbing back up to sixth place in the race.
After the finish, the Frenchman felt that the team had "maximized what was available" and could be proud of this series before the summer break. Laurent Mekies for his part, praised his " remarkable regularity judging his results to be fully deserved.
This vocabulary seems almost reasonable for Red BullNo one is promising that yet. Hadjar will conquer the championship, revolutionize the sport, or push Verstappen towards retirement. The team is content to note that he brings in points every Sunday. After several years of constant drama surrounding the second car, this restraint already looks like a technological advancement.
Spa showed that the series is not based solely on caution
Consistency can sometimes be mistaken for conservative driving. The Belgian Grand Prix precisely shattered this interpretation. At Spa-Francorchamps, Red Bull replaced several components of the car's powertrainHadjar. His accumulated penalty dropped him from Q3 to 21st on the grid. The Frenchman then worked his way through the field to finish sixth, after an aggressive strategy and a series of overtakes.
Mekies described this comeback as " Best race with us, no question He also felt that the pace ofHadjar corresponded to that of the three fastest drivers that day. His best lap was indeed the third fastest of the race, behind Lando Norris et Kimi Antonelli.
Starting almost last and finishing sixth is not exactly accounting management. Hadjar He didn't wait for fifteen cars to politely retire in front of him. He went for the result. Sixth place was the same as usual. The path to get it, however, was anything but.
At Silverstone, not even a damaged car could make it disappear
The Frenchman had already produced another revealing performance in Great Britain. Hadjar had qualified fifth, two places ahead VerstappenDuring the race, a loss of performance due to a damaged front wing forced him to make a replacement that cost him approximately eight seconds. Once the part was changed, his pace improved by nearly two seconds per lap. He still managed to maintain fifth place. The raw result, therefore, only tells part of his weekend. Without this problem, Hadjar believed he could have been involved in the fight for the podium.
Mekies explained that his driver was progressing with each outing and constantly learning from contact with VerstappenMost importantly, the two men identified the same balance limits on the RB22, even if they formulated them differently.
This is perhaps the most important detail for Red Bull. Hadjar He's not getting the results he wants because he's ignoring the car's flaws. He's experiencing the same problems as VerstappenBut it manages to work around them without turning every press conference into an industrial disaster announcement. For the communications department, it's a relief. For the engineers, it's even more useful.
The new "Little Prost" must nevertheless avoid getting carried away.
The reference to Alain Prost It's excellent for posting on social media. However, it does require some precautions.
In 1993, Cheers drove the Williams-Renault dominant and won his fourth world championship. Hadjar, He is currently building a series of fourth, fifth and sixth place finishes at the wheel of a Red Bull which is not the best car on the grid. The sporting context is therefore not comparable.
But the statistic still says something solid: for more than three decades, no French driver had managed to stay so long in this part of the ranking.
Pierre Gasly won a Grand Prix. Esteban Ocon also. Romain Grosjean has racked up podium finishes. However, none have produced this particular series since the last season of Cheers.
Hadjar has not become Cheers in seven Sundays. He has only just recovered a statistic that the four-time champion had maintained since the days when phones were still mainly used for making calls.
Red Bull has found something better than a single, isolated feat: a driver who starts again
The main merit ofHadjar Ultimately, it's not about finishing fourth once in Monaco or climbing from the back of the grid at Spa. It's about doing it again the following week. And the week after that. And again after that.
La Formula 1 He loves spectacular performances, impossible overtakes, and unexpected podium finishes. Teams, on the other hand, build their seasons on the points scored when the car isn't perfect, when the strategy becomes complicated, or when the weekend starts badly.
Hadjar He has already retired in Australia and Miami, and finished twelfth in Japan. His season has therefore not begun as a demonstration of dominance. Since Canada, however, he has not scored fewer than eight points in a Grand Prix.
The transformation is clear: the promising newcomer has become the driver whose presence in the top 6 seems almost normal.
Verstappen remains the boss, but Hadjar is no longer just "the other Red Bull"
Max Verstappen He maintains his lead in the championship with 109 points compared to his teammate's 68. He possesses more experience, an unparalleled track record, and continues to deliver significant results when the RB22 becomes challenging. Hadjar, therefore, has not yet overturned the established order.
Corn (Mais) Red Bull He wasn't necessarily expected to immediately beat his four-time world champion. The immediate priority was to have two cars capable of regularly competing. On that point, the Frenchman delivered.
He has already overtaken Verstappen In qualifying, he maintained his pace on certain sections of the race and produced a comeback at Spa that his boss considers his best performance yet. Red BullThe comparison with Verstappen It remains severe. However, it is starting to become less humiliating, which is a considerable improvement in this garage.
A series that appears modest, but is impressive in its duration.
Hadjar He didn't win any of the seven races in question. He didn't reach any official podiums during this period and isn't yet in contention for the title. But he finished each race where consistent drivers should be: right behind the contenders for victory, ready to capitalize on the slightest mistake. P6 might not be glamorous. However, when repeated seven times against the best teams in the world, it ceases to be commonplace. Isaac Hadjar has not yet transformed Red Bull in a winning machine. He did something almost as rare in this team: he made his second car reliable in the standings.
And while the whole paddock is waiting for his next big thing, the Frenchman seems to have chosen another method: come back every Sunday, take the points and let the statistics do the talking for him.
Seven top six finishes in a row for Isack! 👏
That extends the best run by a French driver since Alain Prost in 1993 🤯#F1 @redbullracing pic.twitter.com/dZLWy47LGc
- Formula 1 (@ F1) August 2, 2026