Red Bull advisor Dr Helmut Marko has singled out Isack Hadjar as a standout talent with a promising Formula 1 future.
The season began with Liam Lawson partnering Max Verstappen at Red Bull's senior team, but his lacklustre performance saw him dropped after two races in favour of Racing Bulls' Yuki Tsunoda.
Marko confirmed to Osterreich newspaper that the Japanese driver will remain in the seat for the rest of 2025. "He showed in Suzuka that he has the speed," Marko said. "Now he just needs to minimise his mistakes."
In the same breath, the 81-year-old couldn't resist praising 20-year-old French-Algerian rookie Hadjar.
"With Hadjar, big things are on the horizon," he declared.
Speaking to Sky Deutschland in Bahrain, Marko elaborated: "Hadjar is the surprise of the season. He's the one with the fewest test kilometres in Formula 1 cars, yet he's still racing with (Kimi) Antonelli. He's calm and always there. He had a four-tenth lead over Lawson in the practice session. He's a really big guy coming up for the future."
