Red Bull Say Isack Hadjar’s Recovery Is on Track as Liam Lawson Continues to Impress Ahead of Azerbaijan GP

• Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies says Isack Hadjar’s wrist recovery is progressing exactly as expected, with a decision on his return still a week away from being made
• Hadjar has missed the last three races after the summer break, with Liam Lawson filling in and scoring points in Zandvoort and Madrid
• Mekies says Hadjar will be put on the simulator before Baku to test his fitness, and Red Bull will not rush his return if his recovery is not complete

A Decision Red Bull Are Happy to Leave Until the Last Moment

Red Bull have given their clearest update yet on Isack Hadjar’s recovery from a wrist injury, with team principal Laurent Mekies confirming there have been no setbacks, but stopping short of guaranteeing the Frenchman will be back in the car for next week’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Hadjar has missed the last three races the sport has played after its summer break, sitting out Zandvoort, Monza and Madrid after hurting his wrist in training in that break. Liam Lawson has stepped up from Racing Bulls to fill the seat in his absence, with Yuki Tsunoda moving into Lawson’s car at the sister team.

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‘Nothing Wrong’ With the Recovery, Just Time Needed

Speaking after last Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix, Mekies was direct about where things stand. “Isack is good. There is nothing wrong with Isack’s recovery. I think we have learned that it’s fundamentally normal time for the sort of injuries he has,” he said.

“So, we will continue with the same approach than what we had, we will evaluate the situations in a week’s time, we have a full week, with more than a full week to evaluate the situation to see how he feels. And then to put him on the simulator, to expose him to real-life constraints. If he feels close to 100 per cent, we go for it. If he feels the recovery is not completed, we will stick with our approach to put his recovery first.”

Mekies was clear about the thinking behind that caution. “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,” he said.

A Frustrating Gap in a Promising Rookie Season

The timing of the injury has cost Hadjar more than just points. Before the layoff, he had made a strong start to life at Red Bull, taking eight top-10 finishes including a podium in Monaco, and out-qualifying teammate Max Verstappen on three occasions. Missing three races means missing three more chances to learn the RB22, a car every driver on the grid is still working to fully understand under this year’s new technical rules.

Hadjar has still been present at each of the three races he has missed, watching on and going through data with his engineers, but Red Bull are open about the fact that this is not a substitute for time behind the wheel. In his absence, Verstappen has taken two podiums to show what the car can do, while Lawson has scored points twice from his three drives with the team.

Praise for Lawson’s Stand-In Job

Whatever happens with Hadjar’s fitness, Mekies had nothing but praise for how Lawson has handled his recall to the senior team. Lawson has twice qualified eighth in his stint and scored points at both Zandvoort and Madrid, finishing sixth in the Spanish capital.

“I think he’s done a very good job,” Mekies said. “I think we all know how difficult it is to jump to a different team, to a different car, and I think he has done that to the best of what could have been our expectations. He has taken some very important points [in Madrid] with the P6. He did the same in Zandvoort, and in Monza he would have done something similar without the contact with Nico [Hulkenberg] and the damage.”

Mekies drew a pointed contrast with Lawson’s previous experience at the senior team, an ill-fated two-race stint at the start of last season before he was moved back down to Racing Bulls. “Again, very different pictures compared to the first races of 2025 when he was in the team, so we are thankful and happy with that,” Mekies said.

He went on to credit the way Lawson has approached his return to the car. “I think he has continued to grow as a driver,” Mekies said. “He’s very calm in the car; he’s very focused. He’s certainly making, I don’t know if he makes an effort or not [to do it], but he’s certainly managed to keep things simple in the way he tracks with the team and in the way he tackles his own performance and the car performance. So, he’s focused on the essentials; he tries to get the basics right, and it’s working for him. Of course, with more time in the car, you can then get to another degree of finesse, maybe. But I think that, of course, is very, very strong.”

Recent History of Wrist Injuries Offers a Guide

Hadjar is far from the first driver to have to work back from a wrist injury mid-season. Lance Stroll broke his wrist and toe in a bicycle accident before the start of the 2023 season, missing pre-season testing but still lining up for the opening race and scoring points with the injury still healing. Daniel Ricciardo’s recovery took considerably longer after he broke a bone in his hand crashing in Zandvoort practice in 2023, a setback that cost him five Grands Prix, with Lawson stepping in as his replacement at the time.

Those cases show how differently these injuries can play out even when the initial diagnosis looks similar, which goes some way to explaining why Red Bull are treating Hadjar’s simulator test as the real decision point rather than trying to set a firm return date now. Stroll’s toe and wrist break healed fast enough that he barely missed a session, while Ricciardo’s hand injury turned into a five-race absence that reshaped his season. Hadjar’s own case sits somewhere between the two, and Mekies’ comments this week suggest the team still does not know exactly where it will land.

Decision Due Before a Testing Triple-Header

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix, held on Baku’s street circuit, opens a run of three races in three consecutive weekends, with Malaysia and Singapore following on the two weekends after that. The Baku event itself starts a day earlier than usual, with practice taking place on the Wednesday ahead of a Saturday race.

That schedule makes the timing of any Hadjar return especially important. A driver coming back into the car for a triple-header, on a street circuit that offers little margin for error, would be walking straight into one of the more physically demanding stretches of the season. Red Bull’s insistence on waiting for the simulator test before making a final call reflects exactly that risk.

For now, the seat remains Lawson’s to lose, and Mekies’ comments suggest the team principal has no complaints about how he has driven it. Whether that changes by the time Friday practice begins in Baku depends entirely on how Hadjar’s wrist responds to a week of testing before the team makes its call. Either way, Red Bull have made clear that patience, not the calendar, will decide when their driver gets back in the car.

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Written by

Jack Renn

Jack Renn is an editor at F1 Chronicle and a veteran motorsport journalist with 25 years of experience covering Formula 1 and international motorsport. A member of the Association Internationale de la Presse Sportive (AIPS), the global body representing accredited sports journalists, Jack has spent his career reporting from paddocks and press rooms across the F1 calendar. His work spans race analysis, technical insight, and in-depth features, giving readers authoritative coverage grounded in decades of firsthand experience at the highest level of the sport.

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