Isack Hadjar, leading the Formula 2 championship, has subtly suggested that it might be time for Red Bull to consider promoting him to Formula 1 soon.
Currently, Red Bull's secondary team, RB, fields Yuki Tsunoda and 35-year-old Daniel Ricciardo as drivers.
Tom Coronel, a noted figure in Dutch racing, believes Ricciardo's time should end after this season. "'Ricciardo 2.0' who learned from his mistakes, blah blah blah, is a nice story. But he just can't do it anymore.
"He didn't succeed at McLaren, he didn't succeed at Alpha Tauri and he will never succeed again," he explained to Dutch magazine Formule 1. "He should be honest with himself. He is an ideal commentator or analyst for motorsport - he's funny, he has flair, he can handle anything well. Go ahead and do that, but stop with Formula 1.
"He has no business with a development team anyway. Formula 1 is for the 20 best drivers in the world and he hasn't been part of that for a long time," Coronel further commented.
Should RB decide to replace Ricciardo, Liam Lawson appears to be the natural choice. However, Hadjar, a French-Algerian and standout Red Bull junior, is also a strong contender.
When queried about his potential elevation to RB, based in Faenza, the 19-year-old shared: "To begin with, I don't know. But if the junior team and the B team exist, it's for a reason. And then we can see very well what's happening at the moment, with the driver market moving a lot," Hadjar stated in an interview with the Red Bulletin in French.
"The only thing I can do is show up every weekend."
Looking ahead, if Hadjar does not secure a Formula 1 seat for 2025, more opportunities may arise within Red Bull's four racing seats by 2026. Eddie Jordan, a former F1 team boss, believes a shift in dynamics could influence such outcomes. "The unrest at Red Bull, and the departures of Adrian Newey and Jonathan Wheatley, cannot be pleasing Max (Verstappen) and his father," he remarked to Auto Bild.
"Also, Mercedes has turned the corner and is getting stronger and stronger.
"So I'd be anything but surprised if Max moves to Mercedes in 2026."
