Seven years ago, Red Bull signed sophomore Formula 1 driver Pierre Gasly as Max Verstappen’s new team-mate following the Frenchman’s convincing rookie season, forgoing a more experienced option in Carlos Sainz – but Gasly crashed twice at Barcelona in pre-season testing and was demoted to Toro Rosso after a nightmare first half of the season.
Seven years later, Red Bull signed sophomore F1 driver Isack Hadjar as Verstappen’s new team-mate following the Frenchman’s convincing rookie season, forgoing a more experienced option in Yuki Tsunoda – but Hadjar crashed at Barcelona in pre-season testing.
Let’s face it, Hadjar’s off on Tuesday was definitely not what Red Bull needed with a brand-new car amid F1’s new-for-2026 technical regulations. The RB22 ended up in the wall at the last corner, fortunately at the end of the day – so not much actual track time was lost, but it may impact Red Bull’s programme for the remainder of the week.
Back in 2019, Gasly suffered not one but two crashes at the Catalan track. The first one occurred on the second day of testing – just like Hadjar’s – as the youngster lost the rear end in the Turn 12 right-hander.
“Basically, you are pushing the car to the limits and playing with the limits,” Gasly then explained. “I went on throttle and lost the rear, and basically that was it. It caught me a bit by surprise and [there’s] not much you can do once it is done.”
Nine days later, in the second Barcelona test, Gasly lost control in the very fast Turn 9 curve.
“I’m fine, a bit shaken, but I made a mistake in Turn 9 and you guys saw what happened,” he admitted. “Pretty big crash, one of the biggest crashes I had. Long night for the mechanics, sorry for that.”
Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
That second shunt was particularly impactful for Red Bull as the team had to revert to an older-spec bargeboard and Verstappen’s mileage was consequently limited on the final day.
These crashes likely helped set up Gasly for a horrendous 12 grands prix at Red Bull; the 23-year-old failed to match Verstappen, with 63 points to 181, or even to get a podium finish – hence his demotion back to Toro Rosso which, given how he bounced back, may have been a blessing in disguise.
Will Hadjar follow the same path? The curse of Red Bull’s second seat is well-documented by now; Alex Albon, Sergio Perez, Liam Lawson and Tsunoda all struggled relative to Verstappen. But there has been hope that F1 2026’s technical overhaul will somehow end the malediction as car characteristics evolve.
Gasly clearly couldn’t cope with the RB15’s behaviour. His driving style was too aggressive for the car, he kept experimenting without finding the right set-up, and that’s how he ended up being lapped by Verstappen in the Austrian Grand Prix, while his qualifying pace somehow got progressively worse relative to the Dutchman.
But the Frenchman also perceived a lack of support from his team – “nobody really stuck up for me” – and he felt hampered by his race engineer Mike Lugg, who came from Formula E with no prior F1 experience.
Lugg’s move was planned as a reunion with fellow countryman Daniel Ricciardo, as they won the British F3 title together at Carlin in 2009, but Ricciardo’s shock move to Renault meant Gasly inherited his engineer.
Pierre Gasly, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
In the end, Lugg lasted just a year-and-a-half in the race engineer role at Red Bull, with Ricciardo’s former engineer Simon Rennie switching back to a trackside role in mid-2020. Lugg left the team six months later and moved back to Formula E.
These are just many reasons why Gasly’s fate doesn’t have to be Hadjar’s. They may be drivers of the same age and nationality in the same situation at the same team, but many other circumstances are different.
Back in 2019, the technical rules were stable, other than tweaks to front and rear wings to make overtaking easier. Hadjar’s crash happened on a wet track with a brand-new car, even though he’d driven it all day on Monday.
His race engineer is Richard Wood, who was a performance engineer from 2021 to 2024 and acted as Perez’ race engineer on occasion before moving into that role full-time with Lawson and Tsunoda.
Red Bull’s management has changed too. Gone are the ruthless Christian Horner and Helmut Marko; Laurent Mekies may not have much experience in the team principal role, which he held for 18 months at Racing Bulls before replacing Horner at Red Bull last July, but he has been in motorsport for a long time and has already earned praise for his demeanour.
Mekies’ successor at Racing Bulls, Alan Permane, described him as “exceptionally good with people” and “right up there with the best” team principals he has worked with; the Frenchman also made a strong impression at Red Bull with his meticulous approach and extreme honesty, as he adamantly refused to take credit for the team’s turnaround in form.
Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
After Hadjar crashed, Mekies was keen to play the accident down: “Look, it was a very tricky condition this afternoon, so very unfortunate that it finished that way, but it’s part of the game.”
Of course, he was always going to defend his driver – even Horner did seven years ago.
Still, there is no reason Hadjar cannot succeed at Red Bull – and by ‘succeed’ we mean being close enough to Verstappen, not necessarily matching him. But he will need to avoid crashing again during pre-season testing, lest doubt starts to creep in…
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– The Autosport.com Team
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