Hadjar impresses in desert challenge with Dakar veteran
Photo: Red Bull Content Pool
22:05, 10 Jan
1 Comments
Samson Ero is a Formula 1 editor at GPblog with seven years’ experience in sports media. He covers key paddock developments, offering analysis on drivers, teams, and performance trends, with work featured on leading platforms.
Isack Hadjar recently swapped asphalt for the dunes after he hit the desert in one of motorsport’s toughest machines.
The Red Bull Racing driver took on a challenge in the Ford Raptor T1+, alongside Dakar veteran Mitchell Guthrie.
In the video shared by Red Bull Motorsport, Hadjar was tasked with setting a time within 15 seconds of the benchmark set by Guthrie over five laps.
Isack Hadjar during F1 post-season testing - Photo: Red Bull Content Pool
The young French driver, upon taking the wheel of the Ford Raptor, initially set 4 minutes 18 seconds – well off the 3 minutes 16 seconds set by Guthrie.
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Hadjar continued to improve his lap time with more attempts, and his final two runs saw him come within two seconds of the benchmark.
Sharing his reaction to his outing in the rally car, Hadjar stated:
"I rarely have this much fun, best thing ever. To be fair, this car gives you so much confidence."
Hadjar’s outing recently followed that of former Red Bull Racing driver Daniel Ricciardo, who also tackled the desert in the Ford Raptor T1+.
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Hadjar set to be handed Tsunoda’s engineer
Earlier, GPblog reported that Hadjar will have Richard Wood as his race engineer for his debut season at Red Bull Racing.
The 21-year-old, who swapped the Racing Bulls outfit for the Milton Keynes team, will have ‘Woody,’ as he is fondly called, as his engineer.
Woody has served as race engineer for several former Red Bull drivers, including Liam Lawson and, more recently, Yuki Tsunoda.
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