When the 2025 Formula 1 racing circuit concludes on December 7th at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the main focus will be on Lando Norris, Max Verstappen, and Oscar Piastri — the three men currently at the top of the drivers’ standings who will be gunning for a world championship in the season finale in the majority-Muslim United Arab Emirates. If things go according to form, the three title contenders will be at the front of the pack pretty much from start to finish.

If you look a bit farther back on the track and a little lower in the standings, you can follow the movements of 21-year-old Isack Hadjar, who in his F1 rookie season could finish in the top 10 among drivers. Going into the Abu Dhabi GP, Hadjar sits in 10th place, with veterans Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso just two and three points behind him, respectively.

Whether or not Hadjar keeps his top-10 spot, he’s already done enough to earn a lofty promotion. This week, it was announced that Hadjar — who was born and raised in France, but whose family is from the Muslim-majority African nation of Algeria — is being moved up to Red Bull Racing’s major-league roster and will be Verstappen’s driving teammate in 2026.

Hadjar has been driving this season for the Racing Bulls, essentially the junior-varsity outfit for Red Bull Racing. In his F1 debut, at the Australian GP in March, he wrecked his car during the pre-race formation lap and was unable to officially start the race. It was as disastrous a start as one could imagine for a driver who’d entered 2025 with a lot of hype as a hot prospect in the motorsports world. It was the kind of debut that could have critics calling the youngster a bust. However, Hadjar bounced back two races later to come in eighth place in the Japanese GP, his first of 10 top-10 finishes this season. Hadjar’s best performance was at the Dutch GP in August, where he crossed the line third to earn his first career podium finish.

Verstappen has been in typically great form this year, with a chance to win his fifth straight world championship on Sunday. But Red Bull Racing has struggled to put a solid teammate next to him in 2025. Sergio Perez parted ways with RBR following the 2024 season, when he finished eighth in the drivers’ standings to snap a streak of three straight top-four campaigns. Liam Lawson was tapped to replace Perez, but after two subpar performances to start 2025, he was demoted to the Racing Bulls, and Yuki Tsunoda was promoted to RBR. Going into the season finale, Tsunoda is 15th in the standings. Lawson is 14th. Next year, Lawson will keep his seat for the Racing Bulls, where he’ll be joined by incoming rookie Arvid Lindblad. Tsunoda has been bumped down to being Red Bull’s reserve driver.

Hadjar, who has been one of the reliable bright spots in the Red Bull franchise, will get his crack at being Verstappen’s wingman in 2026, with a chance to replicate some of the top-level success Perez had in that position with one of the elite race teams in the sport.

Previous F1 drivers from Muslim-majority countries include Rio Haryanto of Indonesia (2016), Alex Yoong of Malaysia (2001-02), and Robert La Caze of Morocco (1958).