"It feels a bit unreal": Isack Hadjar reacts to securing his first-ever F1 podium in the Dutch GP

Isack Hadjar admitted after the race that it all felt a bit unreal to him as he secured his first career podium at the F1 Dutch GP. The French driver has executed a stunning weekend in Zandvoort, which all began on Saturday.

Isack Hadjar surprised everyone when he secured a second-row start for the Dutch GP on Sunday. While the Racing Bulls driver had done so, not many expected him to continue to hold on to the position in the race with faster cars behind him.

In the first stint, it was Charles Leclerc that Isack Hadjar had to keep behind, but after that, it was more or less smooth sailing when the Ferrari driver suffered a race-ending crash with Kimi Antonelli.

From that point onwards, the driver was secure in P4, but it soon turned into P3 when Lando Norris suffered a PU unit issue in his car and retired on the spot. Talking about his race when it was all said and done, the Racing Bulls driver said,

"It feels a bit unreal. What was most surprising for me was keeping that fourth place for the whole race. Unfortunately for Lando we took advantage of his [DNF] but we did no mistakes. The car was on rails the whole weekend and I'm really happy about myself because I maximised what I had, made no mistakes and brought home the podium."

He added,

"So I'm so happy for my guys. [Being on the podium] was always the target since I was a kid. So this is my first step, my first podium, and hopefully much more [to come]."

Isack Hadjar's stablemate Max Verstappen joins him in P2

Isack Hadjar's Red Bull stablemate and home favorite Max Verstappen was second in the race as the Dutch driver came home behind Oscar Piastri. Unlike Hadjar, Verstappen did have a punchier race where he did mix things up with the McLaren drivers before settling behind. After securing another podium at Zandvoort, he said,

“It wasn’t easy. I gave it everything at the start to move forward. A little moment in Turn 2, but after we just had to do our own race. Unfortunately we didn’t have the pace of the McLarens. We got a bit lucky with one retiring. In general, to be on the podium here is a great result. To be in second, I think is a really good achievement for us."

For Isack Hadjar, the result in Zandvoort now puts him in prime position to potentially move to Red Bull next season and replace Yuki Tsunoda. The driver has been very impressive, and such results do not come often, especially in a team like Racing Bulls.

Whether the driver would be willing to make the move, however, is certainly something that we'll have to wait to see, as he has been unwilling to make such a move.