Red Bull driver Isack Hadjar will miss the 2026 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort due to a wrist injury sustained during the Formula 1 summer shutdown. Liam Lawson will replace Hadjar at Oracle Red Bull Racing for the upcoming race weekend.
The injury occurred during a gym training session over the August summer break. Red Bull confirmed the news on Wednesday, August 19, announcing the driver change.
Liam Lawson, currently with Racing Bulls, will step up to the senior Red Bull team alongside Max Verstappen. This marks Lawson’s third race start for Red Bull, having previously driven for them at the beginning of the 2025 season.
As a result of Lawson’s promotion, Yuki Tsunoda will return to the F1 grid, taking Lawson’s seat at Visa Cash App Racing Bulls for the Dutch Grand Prix. Tsunoda serves as the reserve driver for both Red Bull-backed teams.
Hadjar has had an impressive first year with Red Bull, securing a season’s best of fourth place in Monaco and finishing in the top six in his last seven races. He sits eighth in the drivers’ standings with 68 points after 11 rounds.
Zandvoort holds significance for Hadjar, as he claimed his maiden F1 podium there last season, finishing third for Racing Bulls during his rookie campaign. He will have two weeks to recover before the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
Off-track incidents causing injuries are not uncommon in Formula 1. Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff has experienced several such events. In 2009, he suffered a severe crash at the Nordschleife in a Porsche 911 RSR, sustaining a concussion from a 27G impact.
In 2014, Wolff fractured his shoulder, collarbone, elbow, and wrist in a cycling pile-up involving Mercedes staff near the River Danube in Hungary. He later broke his kneecap falling off an exercise ball.
Wolff was involved in another cycling accident in 2023 while on holiday, resulting in a fractured elbow.
Lance Stroll fractured bones in both wrists during a cycling accident just days before the 2023 pre-season testing in Bahrain. He underwent surgery and raced in the season-opening Grand Prix 12 days later.
Fernando Alonso was hospitalised in Switzerland in early February 2021 after a cycling collision with a car, requiring surgery on a fractured upper jaw. He was able to participate in pre-season testing.
Mark Webber sustained a broken leg and shoulder in a cycling collision during his charity endurance event, the Mark Webber Pure Tasmania Challenge, at the end of the 2008 F1 season. He raced with metal rods in his leg for four years.
Webber suffered another cycling injury in late 2010, a skier’s fracture to his right shoulder, which he kept largely private while competing for the championship.
Pascal Wehrlein’s 2017 season preparations were impacted by a crash at the Race of Champions in Miami. He barrel-rolled a Polaris Slingshot, initially reporting mild discomfort, but later revealing three broken vertebrae.
Wehrlein missed the Australian and Chinese Grands Prix that season, stating he was not fit enough eight weeks after sustaining the three broken vertebrae.
Robert Kubica’s F1 career was severely altered by a rallying accident in the Ronde di Andora in early 2011. He suffered critical injuries, including a partially severed right forearm, leading to significant mobility issues.
Juan Pablo Montoya missed the 2005 Bahrain and San Marino Grands Prix due to an injury he attributed to a tennis accident. Rumours persisted that the injury was sustained during a motocross incident, a sport allegedly prohibited by his McLaren contract.
