Hadjar would not say no to seat at Red Bull

Isack Hadjar scored his first points in Formula One with Racing Bulls on Sunday and said he would never say no to the main Red Bull team should they eventually seek his services.

The French rookie, who suffered a painful seat belt squeeze in qualifying that he said had nearly cost him his weekend, finished eighth in the Japanese Grand Prix after starting seventh, picking up four points.

He had lined up alongside the Ferrari of his racing hero Lewis Hamilton, who passed him in one of the rare track overtakes.

Hadjar had spun out on the formation lap of his Australian debut, shedding tears of frustration, and then finished 11th in China.

“We were not fighting Lewis today [Sunday], he was out of reach,” he said. “But what was good was definitely the start; we held position, were threatening a bit on Kimi [Antonelli] but just not enough.

“That was the perfect race today. It's a cool place to score your first points,” added the 20-year-old. “Super happy. I love this place. Also it was super demanding, I was just destroyed the last quarter of the race.”

Hadjar is already on his second teammate of the season after Liam Lawson was demoted from Red Bull in a straight swap with Yuki Tsunoda.

Neither managed to score points in Suzuka and their long-term futures remain uncertain while Hadjar has impressed after his initial mistake, with Red Bull bosses now singing his praises.

“It’s been an amazing weekend, especially from Isack, with P7 in qualifying and P8 in the race with some seriously fast cars behind him,” said Racing Bulls team boss Laurent Mekies.

“That was quite something in only his third Formula One race at such a difficult track. He confirmed that talent with a faultless race: 53 laps perfectly executed between him and the team and his first F1 points in the bag.”

Asked if he considered himself to be next in line for promotion now, Hadjar laughed.

“To be honest, I'm enjoying where I am at the moment,” he said. “I would never refuse a call, that's for sure, but let's see. I'm just having fun.”