Hadjar putting Tsunoda’s seat in doubt

“Yuki already feels the heat on his neck”

An exciting future lies ahead for Isack Hadjar – as Yuki Tsunoda begins to “feel the heat on his neck”.

That’s the assessment of Red Bull’s famous and notorious F1 consultant Dr Helmut Marko, as he heaps more praise on the opening phase of rookie Hadjar’s Formula 1 career at the junior outfit Racing Bulls.

Hadjar, 20, is outperforming his more experienced Liam Lawson, who had impressed Red Bull chiefs so much last year that he was selected over Tsunoda for the seat at the main Red Bull team alongside Max Verstappen.

Tsunoda and Lawson’s places were rapidly swapped, and Marko is satisfied that the Japanese driver is at least performing better than the New Zealander did at Red Bull Racing.

However, Marko cannot stop raving about French-Algerian Hadjar.

“Hadjar is the big surprise for me,” the 82-year-old told Kronen Zeitung newspaper. “He delivers his performance calmly and as if it was second nature.

“It’s even more impressive considering that he does not know most of the circuits.”

Marko even admits that Hadjar is putting pressure on Red Bull Racing driver Tsunoda – especially as the Japanese’s backer Honda is moving to Aston Martin next year.

“Yuki already feels the heat on his neck,” the Austrian declared. “He loses ground as soon as he is under pressure.”

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