By Alan Baldwin
ZANDVOORT, Netherlands (Reuters) -Isack Hadjar provided a likely glimpse of the future as the French rookie stepped up to the Formula One podium for the first time alongside Red Bull’s four-times world champion Max Verstappen.
Third place in Sunday’s Dutch Grand Prix, with Verstappen second in front of his home fans, was a dream come true for the 20-year-old who became the fifth youngest driver to finish in the top three.
Hadjar is already on a fast track to promotion to the Red Bull senior team and his podium was in stark contrast to the result of Verstappen’s current teammate Yuki Tsunoda, who finished ninth.
“It feels great. Max is someone I’ve been looking up to since my junior days,” said Hadjar, who is of Algerian descent.
“The last five years have been outstanding. To share the track, spend most of the race behind him, being within two or three seconds the whole time, and share my first podium with him on his home soil as well, I think it’s pretty cool.”
The podium was an even greater contrast to his debut in Australia in March which ended before it had even started after he crashed his car backwards into the wall on the formation lap.
“After what happened in Australia, in the car, obviously, I thought my life was over, but then you realise it can happen and you bounce back very quickly from that,” he said.
“Then to have a podium without too much miracles and not much going on ahead — no, I didn’t expect it, especially that fast in the season.
“Already finishing fourth on pure pace would have been a mighty result. But finishing third, I’m just over the moon.”
The rookie, who has now scored 37 of his team’s 60 point haul from 15 races, started fourth — with Verstappen third — and inherited the podium after McLaren’s title contender Lando Norris retired from second place with seven laps to go.
“It feels a bit unreal. What was most surprising to me is keeping that fourth place for the whole race,” he said.
“But we did no mistake. The car was on rails the whole weekend and I’m really happy about myself because I really maximised what I had. Made no mistakes and brought home the podium.
“So, this is a first step, my first podium, and hopefully many more to come.”
With his old Racing Bulls boss Laurent Mekies now principal at Red Bull, after Christian Horner was dismissed, there is every chance of that.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Toby Davis)
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