Isack Hadjar is back. Six weeks after a freak wrist fracture in the gym halted his season, the Red Bull driver has been cleared to race at this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku.
The injury struck on the eve of the Dutch GP at Zandvoort during a training session, abruptly stopping his campaign and leaving him unable to drive. Red Bull shut the door on any thoughts of rushing him back, ruling him out of the races in the Netherlands, Italy and Spain while his wrist healed fully.
The enforced break cut deep. “The last month has been tricky for me; it's the first time in my life that I've not been racing and that's a weird feeling to get used to,” Hadjar admitted, laying bare just how unnatural the lay-off felt for a driver wired to compete every weekend.
Now he returns at one of the most unforgiving venues on the calendar: the Baku street circuit, a place that punishes the slightest lapse in concentration.
Hadjar knows exactly what awaits him. He spoke of being “just so excited to get back into my car” but stressed the need to be razor sharp from the first lap, calling Baku a track “you need to be locked in for from the very start of the weekend.”
He also made a point of crediting the approach from the top of the team. “I want to thank Laurent [Mekies, Red Bull team principal] and the team for their patience throughout this process; it was important not to rush the decision and now I feel ready to get back to what I do best – driving.”
Lawson’s chance, Tsunoda’s cameo
Hadjar’s absence opened the door for Liam Lawson to step up from Racing Bulls into the senior Red Bull seat, and the New Zealander made it count.
He finished seventh at Zandvoort, then backed that up with sixth in Spain, underlining his race craft and composure in a car and environment that had previously turned on him. His return to the main team came after a bruising start to 2025, when he was dropped after just two races.
This time, Lawson left a very different impression.
“It's been overall quite positive,” he reflected. “I managed to score in two of the three. I think Monza was tough just with the whole layout of the weekend, and then the engine penalty. Then obviously having damage in the race really ruined it for us. But I think overall we've had good speed.”
Monza was the outlier.
An engine penalty dumped him at the back of the grid, and any hopes of a recovery drive vanished when contact with Nico Hulkenberg damaged his front wing. The weekend became a damage-limitation exercise rather than another showcase.
With Hadjar now fit and reinstated, the short reshuffle comes to an end. Lawson returns to Racing Bulls, and that in turn nudges Yuki Tsunoda back to his usual reserve driver role.
Tsunoda, though, did not slip through this period unnoticed. He adapted quickly to the demands of the new-spec F1 2026 machinery and grabbed a point for Racing Bulls at the Italian GP. That result is still under a cloud, pending an Audi appeal over a grid formation issue after an early red flag, but the performance itself was a reminder of his readiness.
Now the focus swings back to Baku and to Hadjar. He has his car back, his wrist healed, and a brutal street circuit waiting to test just how ready he really is.
