Red Bull confirmed on Wednesday that Isack Hadjar will stay with the team for the 2027 Formula 1 season, lining up alongside Max Verstappen for a second year as team-mates. The announcement settled any doubt over the length of the Isack Hadjar Red Bull contract, after the Frenchman himself admitted in Baku that he was not sure how long his deal actually ran.
Isack Hadjar Retained by Red Bull for 2027 Season
Hadjar was promoted from Racing Bulls to the senior team for 2026, and Wednesday’s confirmation extends his stay at the top level by another season. Asked directly by reporters in Baku whether his new terms amounted to a multi-year extension, Hadjar was refreshingly unbothered by the detail.
“I actually don’t know. I don’t care. Yeah, but, you know, if you’re good, you stay, and that’s it,” he said. It’s the kind of answer that will please a fanbase who value results over paperwork, and it left the actual explanation to his team principal.
Laurent Mekies Explains Junior Option Activation
Laurent Mekies used Thursday’s FIA press conference in Baku to clear up the confusion around the Isack Hadjar Red Bull contract. Rather than signing a fresh deal from scratch, Hadjar has had options activated within an existing long-term agreement tied to his years in Red Bull’s junior programme.
“Isack has been with Red Bull for a very long time, and that means that we have a very long-term contract with him as part of him being part of our junior program, and we have activated our options to secure him for 2027,” Mekies said. The distinction matters: this is continuity built on a deal Hadjar signed as a junior driver, not a brand new multi-year commitment negotiated this season.
Podium Success and Injury Return Context
The timing of the clarification follows a first campaign in which Hadjar has already shown why Red Bull wanted him retained. His standout moment came at Monaco, where he finished third for his first Formula 1 podium, a result that underlined his value as Verstappen’s team-mate rather than a stopgap.
That progress was interrupted by a wrist injury that forced Hadjar out of three consecutive races, in the Netherlands, at Monza and in Madrid. Baku marks his return to the grid, and it comes with his long-term Red Bull future now spelled out in public rather than left to guesswork, as covered in our earlier report on his delayed Zandvoort helmet debut.
Baku Track Return and Azerbaijan GP Outlook
Hadjar’s return at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix gives him his first proper test since the injury layoff, back on a street circuit that rewards precision over raw pace. With his 2027 seat now confirmed, the pressure of contract talk is off, at least for now.
Mekies and the wider Red Bull management have set out the structure clearly: options activated, not a renegotiated package, and Hadjar’s future locked in alongside Verstappen for another season. Full detail on the exchanges in Baku is available in the Crash.net report on Hadjar’s contract. Attention now turns to whether he can build on that Monaco podium once he is back up to full fitness.
