Isack Hadjar, the 20-year-old racing phenom and citizen of the Muslim-majority nation of Algeria, made his Formula 1 debut in Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix.

Except he didn’t exactly make his debut, as the young driver spun out on a wet track during the pre-race formation lap — ending his race before the first lap of the 2025 season opener officially got underway.

Born and raised in France into an Algerian family, Hadjar has dual citizenship in France and Algeria. Previous Formula 1 drivers from Muslim-majority countries include Rio Haryanto of Indonesia (2016), Alex Yoong of Malaysia (2001-02), and Robert La Caze of Morocco (1958).

After getting started in auto racing at 8 years old, Hadjar ultimately rose through the minor-league ranks of Formula 4, Formula 3, and Formula 2 as a teenager. He was brought into the Red Bull Racing fold in 2021, joining what is currently the most successful F1 program and home of Max Verstappen, who has won the last four F1 driver championships. After serving as a reserve driver in 2024, for the 2025 season, Hadjar was promoted to the Racing Bulls team, which is a full-time F1 squad but is essentially the B-team for Red Bull. Verstappen and Liam Lawson drive for the Red Bull varsity squad, while Hadjar is paired with Yuki Tsunoda on the junior-varsity squad — but they’re all competing for the same checkered flag at the big-league F1 grand prix races.

For the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, Hadjar qualified in 11th position out of 20 cars. But on the second turn of the formation lap, the rainy conditions conspired to send the rear of his #6 car into a wall, smashing the rear wing. It went down in the record books as a “Did Not Start” for the rookie. Lando Norris wound up winning the race ahead of second-place Verstappen. Hadjar’s teammate, Tsunoda, was 12th. Hadjar’s first shot at redemption will be in Shanghai for the Chinese Grand Prix on March 23rd.