Isack Hadjar could make his comeback in Baku, but Red Bull doesn’t want to rush things – so Liam Lawson must prepare for two possible scenarios
Will Isack Hadjar be back in the race car at the 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku? Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies was unable to answer this question at the Spanish Grand Prix in c. This is because there is as yet no indication as to whether Hadjar will be fit to race again following his hand injury.
Mekies said: “We intend to continue with our current approach and reassess the situation in a week’s time. We want to see how he’s feeling. We’ll then put him through realistic stress tests in the simulator. If he feels nearly 100 per cent fit by then, we’ll give it a go.”
However, Hadjar is not to return to the race car at any cost. “Should he feel that his recovery is not yet complete, we will stick to our approach and prioritise his full recovery,” explained Mekies. After all, they do not want to jeopardise his recovery with a premature return.
Red Bull speaks of a “normal healing process”
At present, however, according to Mekies, everything points to a normal healing process: “Isack is doing well. There are no problems. We have simply established that the recovery time for the type of injuries he has is generally within the normal range.”
Hadjar sustained a hand injury whilst training during the Formula 1 summer break and has been sidelined ever since. At Zandvoort, Monza and Madrid, he was replaced at Red Bull by Racing Bulls regular driver Liam Lawson. Lawson would also drive the second Red Bull alongside Max Verstappen in Baku should Hadjar have to sit out again.
Why Liam Lawson is caught between two stools because of Hadjar
Either way, the situation – which remains unresolved for the time being – is forcing Lawson to spend “a lot of time at the factory” and to undertake “a great deal of extra preparation” for Baku. This is because he has to prepare, on the one hand, for a possible return to Red Bull and, on the other, for a possible return to the Racing Bulls cockpit. “ “So the week off probably won’t be much of a break,” said Lawson in Madrid.
As the decision for or against Hadjar is likely to be made at short notice, Lawson must be prepared for both eventualities: “For Baku, it may not be decided until Wednesday or Thursday which car I’ll be driving. And it’s quite mentally challenging to prepare when you don’t know which car you’ll be driving.”
On a positive note for Lawson, he has now been able to adapt better and better to the Red Bull RB22. “Now, at the end of the weekend, I feel quite comfortable in this car,” he explained. “The more time I spend in this car, the better it is for me. On the other hand, it would be quite difficult to switch back now.”