Isack Hadjar opens up on the challenges of junior racing: “I only earned a salary once I reached F1”. Isack Hadjar explains the financial sacrifices behind a career in junior single-seaters.

The young French driver reflects on the sacrifices made by his family to allow him to pursue the dream of Formula 1.

The sacrifices made by families of young drivers dreaming of F1

Speed, talent, luck and, above all, money—lots of money. These are the essential ingredients for any young driver who dreams of reaching Formula 1 by progressing through the junior racing ladder. And it matters little whether there is the backing of a major team’s Academy, because the families of future talents still have to spend hundreds of thousands of euros to keep that dream alive. There is nothing new about this reality, but it is far less glamorous than it may appear.

This is the picture described by Isack Hadjar during a live streaming session with French content creator Zack Nani. The Red Bull driver explained how, only in his first season as a full-time Formula 1 driver, he has finally started to receive the first real “salaries” of his career. Before reaching the top category, Isack Hadjar spent years searching for funding, sponsors and ways to strengthen his family’s financial resources in order to face the extremely high costs of competing in feeder series.

Isack Hadjar’s account

“I started,” explained the young driver, recently promoted as Max Verstappen’s new team-mate at Red Bull for the 2026 season, “to earn a living as a racing driver only this year in Formula 1. Salaries in Formula 2? No, it’s a complicated system where you have to pay for every championship you compete in. Of course, in my case Red Bull helped me, and that’s exactly what they are there for. You are part of an Academy, you are immersed in the Formula 1 environment and they support you financially, but Formula 3 and Formula 2 come with costs that you simply cannot afford on your own. My mother managed to find sponsors who paid for part of the season, while Red Bull covered the rest.”

“I can’t say everything,” Isack Hadjar added, “but until last year it was a constant financial battle. Without Red Bull, it would have been over. The junior categories? Well, I really enjoyed my first two seasons in karting, but when I moved on to more serious levels, I enjoyed it much less. Those are really bad memories. You find yourself competing against guys who have far more resources than you. I don’t want to give the impression that I didn’t have the necessary means, because my parents—my father Yassine, for example, is a respected physicist and researcher in the field of quantum mechanics—are well off. But in the world of Formula 1, you are invisible. Anyone can buy a pair of shoes and go and play football, but starting karting is difficult, and moving on to the serious levels is simply absurd.”

Isack Hadjar’s journey serves as a sobering reminder of the barrier to entry in elite motorsport. Despite his undeniable speed that secured him a seat alongside a four-time world champion, the path was defined as much by his mother’s ability to secure sponsorship as his own ability to hit an apex. As he prepares to represent the Red Bull senior team in 2026, those “bad memories” of financial uncertainty now serve as the foundation for what could be a long and successful career at the pinnacle of racing.