Isack Hadjar injury update: Red Bull will not rush Azerbaijan GP return as recovery stays on plan

Isack Hadjar missed the last three races after injuring his wrist during routine training in the summer break.

Red Bull will keep putting Isack Hadjar’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 Max Verstappen, while Yuki Tsunoda has raced for Racing Bulls.

Speaking after Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix, 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.

Aachal Maniyar is a Senior Content Producer at LiveMint, where she covers US sports with a focus on major leagues, marquee events, and athlete-driven stories, while also reporting extensively on cricket and global sports. With over five years of first-hand journalism experience, she combines sharp editorial judgment with real-time sports storytelling across platforms. Her reporting journey spans leading newsrooms including Thomson Reuters, India TV, BTVI, ET NOW, and CNBC TV18, where she has worked across breaking news, live match coverage, feature writing, interviews, video scripting, and anchoring. This multi-platform exposure has shaped her ability to deliver context-rich sports and business journalism tailored for both television and digital audiences. Aachal has conducted and produced exclusive interviews with athletes and public figures such as India cricketer Dhruv Jurel, Indian women’s hockey captain Savita Punia, and industrialist Ratan Tata, along with several emerging and established sports personalities. Her body of work includes in-depth explainers, athlete profiles, emotionally resonant fan narratives, and data-backed match analysis across cricket, Olympic sports, and international competitions. She holds a Master’s degree in Journalism from Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, Pune, and believes in reporting that is grounded in accuracy, clarity, and credibility. Her philosophy is simple: sports journalism should go beyond scores and statistics, capturing the human stories, pressure moments, and decisions that shape the game and the people who play it.