Isack Hadjar to Red Bull this year? Rosberg warns him to say ‘no way’

Although there’s no talk of Isack Hadjar replacing Yuki Tsunoda at Red Bull this season, that hypothetical situation was put to Nico Rosberg, who was adamant the Racing Bulls driver should say “no way”.

Despite dropping Liam Lawson in favour of Yuki Tsunoda early this season, Red Bull’s driver change hasn’t improved the team’s position in the Constructors’ Championship with Max Verstappen single-handedly holding down fourth place.

Isack Hadjar warned: Do you know how risky that is?

The reigning World Champion, who added a third grand prix wins to his season’s tally last time out at Monza, has 230 of Red Bull’s 239 points with Tsunoda bringing in nine in his 14 starts since joining from Red Bull.

Such have been Tsunoda’s struggles in the RB21 that he is the lowest-placed driver from the Red Bull stable in 19th place overall.

Lawson is four places ahead with 20 points, while Hadjar broke into the top half of the standings with his Dutch Grand Prix podium. He’s scored 38 points in total.

Hadjar is being tipped to replace Tsunoda, the only question – at least for pundits – is when.

That was put to Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies in the build-up to Monza, the Frenchman asked if Hadjar would remain with Racing Bulls until the end of the season.

“I think the short answer is yes,” he said. “I think we made it clear, very public, we have time with our driver decision. We have enough drivers in the driver programme to cover quite a few scenarios for next year. We don’t have a reason to rush.

“No, we do not plan to change during the season.”

That, according to Rosberg, has to be music to Hadjar’s ears as he believes there would only be negatives for the 20-year-old in a late-season swap.

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“I would say, ‘No, I’m not doing it, no way, try and force me’,” the 2016 World Champion told Sky F1.

But asked by presenter Natalie Pinkham if he would think differently if it was his only chance, Rosberg replied as he believes Hadjar should: “‘I don’t care. No, I’m not doing it. What are you gonna force me there? Like you’re gonna drag me there? No, I’m not going really’.”

“Do you know how risky that is? You know how many careers almost got destroyed there in the list? You know how long the list is?

“And you know Yuki’s situation now, his career is not looking too great right now.

“At Racing Bulls he was fine, he was doing well, everything was okay.”

Guest pundit Jamie Chadwick agrees that the cons of taking on Max Verstappen in an RB21 that only he seems to know how to drive far outweigh the pros.

But, she said: “I don’t think he can say no, that’s the problem.

“I would want to say no if I was him. The car just won the race here [Monza] in Max’s hands. But I would want to say no, because I know I’m developing at a really good rate.

“He’s also not been to a lot of the tracks that he’s going up to. He’s not been to the likes of Las Vegas, Singapore, there’s a few tracks he wouldn’t have done before, so you can still learn in the Racing Bulls. That’s what I would say.

“But equally, I don’t think he can say no. His boss telling him, ‘No, you’re in’, and he’s got to do it.”

Pressed on drivers wanting to compare themselves against the very best, Chadwick added: “Yes, but at the right time, and maybe in this early stage it can be a very, well we’ve seen, a chalice… What’s the saying? A poisoned chalice, that’s the one.”

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