Isack Hadjar says his wrist is healing fast enough to get him back in the car this weekend, which is exactly what a driver fighting to keep his seat is supposed to say. The bigger question is whether Red Bull agrees, because their patience apparently runs out on Wednesday.
The Red Bull junior sat out the Dutch Grand Prix after fracturing a small bone in his wrist during what was described as a routine workout. Nothing dramatic, no crash, no big story, just bad luck at the worst possible time. It cost him a home-ish weekend at Zandvoort and handed the seat to Liam Lawson, who partnered Max Verstappen while Yuki Tsunoda slotted back into a race seat at Racing Bulls to cover for Lawson.
A First Injury, and It Shows
Hadjar has never missed a race through injury before, and it clearly rattled him more than a small wrist fracture usually would. Speaking in a video shared by Red Bull, he didn’t try to play the tough guy about it.
“Actually, it’s my first injury ever in my whole existence, career, whatever; so it’s weird to be on the bench. I’m not happy about it, obviously, for me or the team. I want to be there every lap.” – Isack Hadjar
That’s not PR polish, that’s a driver who spent the first half of the season matching Verstappen on pace suddenly watching someone else do his job. Watching Lawson deliver a decent weekend in his car probably didn’t make the sofa any comfier, either.
The Wrist Itself
Hadjar pointed to the strapping still visible around his wrist and gave what sounded like a genuinely encouraging update, as Crash.net reported.
“You see where there’s this space, it’s where I got injured. It’s not swollen, which is very good; it’s a good sign. So it’s healing fast. Every day, I have a bit more mobility, and I’m hopeful for Monza.” – Isack Hadjar
No swelling and daily improvement in mobility is about as good a sign as you can ask for with a bone injury on a short timeline. It’s still a fracture, though, and fractures don’t care about race calendars or double-headers.
Wednesday Is the Real Deadline
Here’s the part that matters more than the good vibes in the video: Red Bull will reportedly give Hadjar every possible day to recover, but Wednesday is understood to be the cut-off point for a decision on Monza. If he doesn’t pass whatever fitness check the team has lined up, the Zandvoort pairing continues, meaning Lawson stays in the Racing Bulls seat and Tsunoda keeps his temporary recall going.
That’s a brutally tight turnaround for a wrist injury, and it puts Hadjar in the odd position of needing to convince his own team’s medical staff rather than convince himself. Feeling ready and being cleared are two very different things, and Red Bull have shown this year they’re not shy about making late swaps when it suits them, as seen with their recent driver changes.
Lawson Waiting, Again
Lawson has already had one senior-team recall this season and delivered without much fuss, quietly banking points and out-qualifying expectations, a theme he’s spoken about when discussing what actually challenged him in the car, detailed in our piece on his return to a Red Bull cockpit. If Hadjar doesn’t get the green light, Lawson simply carries on doing what he was already doing, no fresh nerves required.
For Hadjar, the tone of the video, all matey banter and jokes about wanting an extra week off, is the kind of thing teams love to put out because it looks human and reassuring. It doesn’t change the fact that a bloke with a genuine fracture is being asked to prove his wrist can survive a Formula 1 car within days, at a track that punishes kerbs and bumps as much as Monza does.
Standings Context Makes the Stakes Clear
Hadjar sits eighth in the drivers’ championship on 68 points, comfortably clear of teammate Lawson but a long way off the podium picture at the front. Missing another race wouldn’t be catastrophic for his season, but it would hand Lawson another opportunity to remind Red Bull exactly what he can do when given the keys, and that’s not a message any driver wants broadcast twice in a row.
The Italian Grand Prix goes ahead as part of a double-header with the Spanish round, meaning there’s no slack in the calendar for a slow recovery. Whatever Red Bull decide by Wednesday, it will look less like a health call and more like a statement of intent about who they trust with the car right now.
