Hadjar reveals boxing caused wrist fracture that sidelined him for six weeks

Isack Hadjar has revealed that a boxing session during the 2026 Formula 1 summer break left him with a fractured wrist, sidelining the Red Bull driver for six weeks and forcing both Red Bull and Racing Bulls to reorganise their driver line-ups.

Hadjar confirmed the cause of the injury in the post-race press conference at Baku, where he had just finished on the podium — his first race back after missing the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort and the two rounds that followed. “Hopefully I use a bit more my brain when I go boxing next time,” he said, adding that the enforced absence had felt like “a whole winter break, which is not really what you want in the middle of the season.”

The precise nature of the injury had been the subject of considerable speculation in the weeks prior. On Wednesday in Baku, Hadjar described it as “a small fracture on the outside of the wrist” — a detail that contradicts the widely circulated claim that he had suffered a fractured scaphoid, which sits on the inside of the wrist behind the thumb. Before that clarification, neither Hadjar nor Red Bull had publicly disclosed specifics, fuelling a steady stream of reports.

The decision to keep Hadjar out of the car for three consecutive rounds was made on the advice of MotoGP rider Marc Marquez, who has extensive personal experience of managing complex bone injuries. Wrist fractures are notoriously slow to heal because the area is under near-constant load, even during everyday activity, which can disrupt the knitting process and prolong recovery.

The standard treatment involves wearing a splint for approximately six weeks, meaning Hadjar returned to the cockpit at the earliest realistic point. He is likely to continue experiencing some discomfort in the coming weeks, though his podium finish in Baku suggests the injury has not significantly hampered his performance.