Lewis Hamilton wins Red Bull’s support by praising Christian Horner and Helmut Marko | F1 | Sport

Lewis Hamilton paid tribute to Red Bull for their junior team’s work and feeder series exploits when asked about the potential of Isak Hajjar, who has been named in Liam Lawson’s test and reserve role for 2025.

Hajjar moved up to Formula 2 last year after missing out on the Formula 3 title at the season finale at Monza, and after a rookie test year he has made leaps and bounds.

With two rounds remaining in the 2024 campaign, he is just 4.5 points behind championship leader and Sauber F1 target Gabriel Bortoleto at the top of the F2 standings, and has already secured a new role in the Red Bull line-up for 2025.

Discussing Hajjar’s potential, Hamilton said: “He’s done a mega, mega job, so I’m really happy to see that Red Bull continues to have a program where they develop talent through… we need to see more of that.

“Now we see a lot of these young people who are super talented, and it’s all about opportunity. It just makes me feel old, I don’t feel old, I feel still very young. It’s cool, but I’m looking forward to his progress – my guidance… I always say: “Take your time, continue to be yourself, don’t change for anyone and show yourself as you are”…”

Hajar’s path to Formula 1 is clear and he still has a chance to secure a place on the grid for 2025 if Red Bull decides to drop Sergio Perez from its line-up at the end of the year.

This will see one of Liam Lawson or Yuki Tsunoda – both Red Bull academy graduates – leave VCARB to replace him, paving the way for Hajjar to make his Formula One debut. Unfortunately for the young Frenchman, Perez intends to fight tooth and nail to stay on the grid.

“I had the opportunity, two opportunities, to change teams,” he told GQ before the US Grand Prix. “When I looked at it, I thought: I really like the challenge that I have at Red Bull. Being Max’s teammate is a big challenge.

“It’s a challenge that essentially trains you for all of this. So I said I want to spend the last part of my career at the top, at the very top, where the pressure is on. After all, when you’re going through a difficult period, you have to talk a lot. But at the end of the day, there are 90 percent of the players who would like to see my career happen.

“When you are a racer, you only think about the next race – the next challenge, the next category, the next contract. It’s always about next, next, next. Sometimes it’s good to step back from it and remember how far you’ve come. It’s a very brutal sport.”