Red Bull will keep putting’s fitness ahead of a fast comeback. Team principal Laurent Mekies said the Frenchman’s wrist recovery is on track and that a simulator test will decide whether he races at next week’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Hadjar has missed the last three races after injuring his wrist during routine training in the summer break. Liam Lawson has filled the second Red Bull seat beside , while Yuki Tsunoda has raced for Racing Bulls.
Speaking after Sunday’s, Laurent Mekies said there is no alarm over the timeline and that Red Bull will not change course just to put Isack Hadjar back in the car in Baku.
“There is nothing wrong with Isack’s recovery. I think we have learned that it’s fundamentally a normal time for the sort of injuries he has,” said Mekies. “So, we will continue with the same approach and what we have.”
The same thinking kept Isack Hadjar out of Madrid. Mekies had already said the only test that mattered was whether the 21-year-old felt 100 per cent. He did not, so Lawson stayed in the RB22.
The Azerbaijan Grand Prix is being run a day earlier than usual on the Baku street circuit, with the race on Saturday, September 26. It opens a triple-header that continues in Malaysia and Singapore.
Laurent Mekies said the extra days before Baku will be used to check how Isack Hadjar feels, then put him in the simulator.
“We will evaluate the situation in a week’s time.
“We have a full week, a bit more than a full week, to evaluate situations, to see how he feels and then to put him on the simulator, to expose him to real-life constraints.
“And if he feels close to 100 per cent, we go for it. If he feels the recovery is not completed, we will stick to our approach to put his recovery first.
“What we don’t want to do is, by having an early return, compromise his long-term capacity to come back to 100 per cent.”
That is the whole brief. If the wrist is not ready for a high-speed street track, Lawson stays put.
Isack Hadjar’s season before the injury had already shown why Red Bull is being patient. He is still young, still improving, and the team does not want a rushed Baku return to set that progress back. The next step is simple: see how he feels, put him on the sim, and only then decide who drives in Azerbaijan.
