Frenchman Isack Hadjar has been promoted to Red Bull’s second team to race alongside Japanese Yuki Tsunoda during the 2025 Formula 1 season.

The announcement fills the final seat on the 20-car F1 grid.

Hadjar is a replacement at the team that will now be known as Racing Bulls for Liam Lawson, who has been switched to Red Bull after they dropped Sergio Perez.

Hadjar, 20, finished second in Formula 2 last season to Brazilian Gabriel Bortoleto, who will be racing for Audi-owned Sauber in F1 next year.

Racing Bulls team principal Laurent Mekies said: “Isack’s journey to F1has been nothing short of outstanding. He has shown remarkable growth, with a series of impressive results in the junior single-seater ranks.

“He has the talent and drive necessary to compete at the highest level, and we have every confidence that he will adapt quickly and make a significant impact. I believe Isack and Yuki will make a great team.”

Hadjar said: “The journey from karting through the ranks in single-seaters, to now being in F1 is the moment I’ve been working towards my whole life, it is the dream.

“I feel like I’m stepping into a whole new universe, driving a much faster car and racing with the best drivers in the world. It’ll be a huge learning curve, but I’m ready to work hard and do the best I can for the team.”

The announcement also effectively confirms a change in a way of referring to the team for next year.

Red Bull’s second team raced as RB in 2024 but the Lawson and Hadjar announcements this week have both referred to them as Racing Bulls.

The initials RB were short for Racing Bulls, and were used because the company felt that the full team name including its title sponsor, a credit card company, was too wordy.

But the team’s email addresses all used the name Racing Bulls this year, and now Red Bull has decided the original name will be used after all.

Racing Bulls chief executive officer Peter Bayer said last month: “The only question throughout the year was: ‘What does RB mean, what does RB mean? Now we’re making it official: RB means Racing Bulls.”