This is the Red Bull talent that Marko has had his eye on

Helmut Marko suddenly mentioned Isack Hadjar. Five Red Bull talents drive in Formula 2, but Marko specifically mentioned the 17-year-old Frenchman who competes in Formula 3. Who is this young talent and why is he attracting the Austrian's attention?

Talent from Paris

Isack Hadjar was born on 28 September 2004 in the capital of France: Paris. His love for cars was instilled from an early age, when he first saw the 2006 film Cars. On the Red Bull website, Hadjar names Lewis Hamilton and Ayrton Senna as his idols.

At the age of 11, he began to race go-carts and proved to have a talent for it. For example, he finished second in the 2016 Coupe de France and Challenge Rotax Max France. In 2017, he switched from the Cadet to Junior class and also competed in the European and World Championships. As such, he finished 16th in Europe and 22nd in the world.

No mega results for Hadjar in karting, but the transition to the formula cars went much better for him. He made the switch at the age of fourteen and finished seventh in the French F4 Championship. The young Frenchman was on the podium twice and even won one race in his debut year for FFSA Academy.

His second year in the same class was even more successful. The Frenchman won three races, started from pole twice and was on the podium no less than eleven times. He finished third in the standings, behind, among others, the three-year-old Red Bull protégé Ayumu Iwasa. That year, in 2020, Marko will have caught his eye.

Red Bull brings Hadjar in

His real breakthrough comes in 2021, when he competes in the Formula Regional European Championship. The French driver finished fifth in the championship, which also includes more experienced and highly regarded drivers such as Gregoire Saucy and Zane Maloney. Hadjar won two races and was signed by Red Bull for 2022.

At 17, Hadjar is still one of the younger drivers, especially in Formula 3. On behalf of Red Bull Racing, he first competed in the Asian variant of the F3 championship during the winter, finishing third for the Hitech team. There he kept Red Bull junior Jak Crawford, who is also competing in F3, behind him.

Surprise in Formula 3

Hadjar is also competing for the same team in the European version of the F3 championship. Arthur Leclerc, Victor Martins and Crawford are the pre-season favourites, as they have already completed a season in this class. However, in second place, one point behind Martins, is a rookie in this class: Hadjar.

Hadjar won the first sprint race of this season in Bahrain, won another sprint race at Silverstone and won his first main race in Austria (in the rain). It is therefore not surprising that Marko is now speaking so highly of the Frenchman. Of course, it was to the French-language AutoHebdo, but Hadjar, according to Marko, will get the chance to prove himself in F2 in 2023, after which, with a good season, he could even be considered for a seat at AlphaTauri before 2024.

It's not quite that far yet for Hadjar, but at 17 years of age the young driver has a bright future ahead of him. F3 will be back in action in Hungary, followed by a summer break, as in F1. After the summer, three more F3 weekends are scheduled in Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy.