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A grand prix weekend is a busy affair for everyone involved but on Friday, French-Algerian driver Isack Hadjar was arguably the busiest man at Yas Marina Circuit.
Juggling his roles as a Formula 2 title contender with Campos Racing and a reserve driver for Red Bull Racing in Formula 1, the 20-year-old Hadjar spent the day getting shuttled back and forth from one paddock to the other.
In F2, Hadjar started the weekend just 0.5 points behind championship leader Gabriel Bortoleto, and topped the timesheets in Friday morning’s free practice.
He then made his way to the F1 paddock to fill in for Max Verstappen and drove the four-time world champion’s RB20 in the opening free practice session of the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. He completed 22 laps for Red Bull and finished the session in 15th place.
Just 15 minutes after completing FP1, Hadjar was back at the F2 paddock – on the opposite end of Yas Marina Circuit – suited up for Campos Racing and ready for qualifying.
He qualified for the final F2 feature race of the season in fourth, but has moved up to P3 due to a penalty handed to Paul Aron, who will start from the pit lane.
“It was really intense,” Hadjar told The National. “You are really a passenger, because you have no time for yourself to reset. So you’re just following the plan. It’s really tiring, exhausting, but it’s what I love to do, it’s to drive, and driving the whole day was really good.
“I had to go through F1 paddock, F2 paddock, F1 paddock. Even on Thursday, I’ve never had this amount of media, because when you’re driving Verstappen’s car and you’re fighting for the world title in F2, it gets really busy.”
Those aren’t the only reasons Hadjar has been getting extra attention in Abu Dhabi this weekend. The Red Bull junior driver is a hot candidate for an RB seat in F1 next season as one of Liam Lawson or Yuki Tsunoda is expected to be promoted to Red Bull Racing, replacing Sergio Perez.
“We're fortunate that we've got a tremendous pool of talent. It was good to see Isack Hadjar getting a run out as well in free practice today,” Red Bull team principal Christian Horner told reporters on Friday.
“We've got two talented drivers in VCARB. But until the situation is clear with Sergio and what he wants to do, everything else is purely speculation.”
Friday was Hadjar’s fourth time driving an F1 car at a grand prix weekend. He took part in two free practice sessions for RB and Red Bull in 2023, and drove Perez’s car for Red Bull at Silverstone this season.
He admits jumping back into an F2 car just a few minutes after being in an F1 vehicle is challenging, but one he has successfully navigated on multiple occasions now.
“They are worlds apart,” he told F1 TV of the difference between driving both cars. “When I went back to the F2 it felt super slow and everything comes at you slowly. But at the same time, it’s incredibly physical without power-steering so I had to get back to it and getting used to it was really tough. They are 15 seconds a lap slower. So it’s huge.”
Hadjar said he was pleased with his performance in Verstappen’s car on Friday.
“I got to drive the best car in the world,” he told The National. “I did many laps ... the programme was really intense. It gave me a really good taste of F1 and I’ll be back in the car on Tuesday [for the post-season test].
“Honestly, I was happy with myself. When I’m happy with myself, everyone is too. So all the engineers were fine with my performance and the feedback as well. So that was great.”
Hadjar was born in Paris and holds both French and Algerian citizenship. He does not hail from a motorsport family but his father Yassine used to watch F1 on TV and did some go-karting for fun.
“I was just a fan of speed and cars in general and I found myself in a go-kart at five years old,” Hadjar recalled.
“The first time I drove a go-kart, my dad was like, 'OK, this little guy is pretty much made for it' and he’s been my number one supporter since the first day.”
His father was his go-kart mechanic during his first few years before Hadjar began making his way up the junior racing categories.
He grew up idolising Ayrton Senna, “just the character himself and his story it really touched me,” he says, and is also a fan of Lewis Hamilton.
Hadjar went on holiday to Algeria every year until he was 13 and is planning a visit with his father there in the near future.
His parents, sister, and friends have all come to Abu Dhabi to watch him this weekend and he has been stunned by the amount of support he has received from the Algerian and Arab community at Yas Marina Circuit.
“It is huge, honestly,” he says with a big smile on his face. “It’s more than the support I receive anywhere else. We are really supportive with each other, whereas in Europe it’s a bit different – there’s a lot of critics and everything. Whereas here, Algerians are all supporting me and it’s great.”
In 2022, Hadjar joined Red Bull’s junior programme after making a good impression in the Formula Regional European Championship the previous season, scoring two race wins, one pole, and five podiums, to clinch P5 in the standings.
“They signed me in a moment in my career where I didn’t know where I was going really. So they gave me the most important thing, which is perspective – the route to Formula 1, F3, F2, F1,” said Hadjar.
He is now knocking on the door of F1 with official announcements expected to be made soon regarding the Perez's future. There is a great deal of noise surrounding Red Bull and RB’s lineups for 2025 and Hadjar is more than happy to know his name has been coming up a lot.
“I like it. I really like it,” he said. “I know what’s going on, I know what I’m doing. I can’t say anything but I can tell you I’m just focused on winning F2. That’s the only thing I can say,” he added, giving a strong indication that his F1 future is pretty much guaranteed.
Hadjar finished fifth in Saturday’s sprint race and now trails Bortoleto by 4.5 points in the championship. Sunday’s F2 feature race and title decider kicks off at 1.25pm.
“I feel really confident. I have a really good car this weekend and I’ll make the most of it,” he says. “I’m ready.”
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The flights
Fly direct to Kutaisi with Flydubai from Dh925 return, including taxes. The flight takes 3.5 hours. From there, Svaneti is a four-hour drive. The driving time from Tbilisi is eight hours.
The trip
The cost of the Svaneti trip is US$2,000 (Dh7,345) for 10 days, including food, guiding, accommodation and transfers from and to Tbilisi or Kutaisi. This summer the TCT is also offering a 5-day hike in Armenia for $1,200 (Dh4,407) per person. For further information, visit www.transcaucasiantrail.org/en/hike/
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• Cultivates tough-guy image, posting videos of himself at shooting ranges and in boxing rings.
• Met Donald Trump at the White House and received his backing.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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SPECS
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Common OCD symptoms and how they manifest
Checking: the obsession or thoughts focus on some harm coming from things not being as they should, which usually centre around the theme of safety. For example, the obsession is “the building will burn down”, therefore the compulsion is checking that the oven is switched off.
Contamination: the obsession is focused on the presence of germs, dirt or harmful bacteria and how this will impact the person and/or their loved ones. For example, the obsession is “the floor is dirty; me and my family will get sick and die”, the compulsion is repetitive cleaning.
Orderliness: the obsession is a fear of sitting with uncomfortable feelings, or to prevent harm coming to oneself or others. Objectively there appears to be no logical link between the obsession and compulsion. For example,” I won’t feel right if the jars aren’t lined up” or “harm will come to my family if I don’t line up all the jars”, so the compulsion is therefore lining up the jars.
Intrusive thoughts: the intrusive thought is usually highly distressing and repetitive. Common examples may include thoughts of perpetrating violence towards others, harming others, or questions over one’s character or deeds, usually in conflict with the person’s true values. An example would be: “I think I might hurt my family”, which in turn leads to the compulsion of avoiding social gatherings.
Hoarding: the intrusive thought is the overvaluing of objects or possessions, while the compulsion is stashing or hoarding these items and refusing to let them go. For example, “this newspaper may come in useful one day”, therefore, the compulsion is hoarding newspapers instead of discarding them the next day.
Source: Dr Robert Chandler, clinical psychologist at Lighthouse Arabia
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1799 - First small pox vaccine administered
1846 - First public demonstration of anaesthesia in surgery
1861 - Louis Pasteur published his germ theory which proved that bacteria caused diseases
1895 - Discovery of x-rays
1923 - Heart valve surgery performed successfully for first time
1928 - Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin
1953 - Structure of DNA discovered
1952 - First organ transplant - a kidney - takes place
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1998 - The first adult live-donor liver transplant is carried out
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Jetour T1 specs
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- 2:01:39: Eliud Kipchoge (KEN) on 16/9/19 in Berlin
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- 2:04:26: Haile Gebreselassie (ETH) on 30/09/2007 in Berlin
- 2:04:55: Paul Tergat (KEN) on 28/09/2003 in Berlin
- 2:05:38: Khalid Khannouchi (USA) 14/04/2002 in London
- 2:05:42: Khalid Khannouchi (USA) 24/10/1999 in Chicago
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KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
