​Kimi Antonelli stormed onto the Formula 1 track last season as a rookie and has a chance to become the youngest F1 champion ever this weekend at the United States Grand Prix in Austin.Isack Hadjar, however, is a fellow sophomore whose name you should know. Last year, he had his first podium with a third-place finish at the Dutch Grand Prix and tied Antonelli with 16 appearances in Q3. After being a member of the Red Bull Junior Team since 2022 and making his F1 debut with Visa CashApp Racing Bulls last year, he was promoted to Oracle Red Bull Racing, home of four-time champion Max Verstappen and back-to-back winners of the team title.”It’s great, you know,” he told USA TODAY Sports in an interview on behalf of AT&T on Wednesday ahead of the USGP. “I’m lucky, but at the same time, that was always the target being on the Junior Team. That was always my goal more than five years ago now. So yeah, it’s a great privilege to be racing for World Champions.”This year, Hadjar, 22, has had a roller coaster of a season. At the esteemed Monaco Grand Prix, there was controversy over Pierre Gasly’s pit lane penalty that gave Hadjar third place, then took it away, then reinstated it. He finished third outright for another podium at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and then, since his car was being upgraded, started from pit lane at the last race, the Singapore Grand Prix, and climbed all the way to 10th place.Hadjar said the rockiness was not surprising, especially this year under new regulations. The new speculations for the cars include smoother floors, which means less downforce, and no more DRS. Fans might be disappointed that the racing technique powered by a rear flap is gone, but now both the front and rear flaps can be manipulated throughout the race in a new technology called Active Aero.”It’s normal to have up and downs when it’s a brand new regulation, new sets of cars,” the French-Algerian driver said. “So you’ve got to expect to have a lot of challenges ahead. …”To be honest, the approach we have by now is like focusing more on next year. And if you’ve got to make mistakes or having downs, you want to do them at the start of a project, not when you start getting up to speed.”The last time Formula 1 introduced new regulations was in 2022 and Red Bull Racing caught on quickly. And not only caught on, but flew way ahead of the pack. Verstappen had a historic 2023 season where he earned 10 consecutive race wins and a record 12 wins from pole position en route to capturing the Drivers’ Championship. Red Bull Racing won the Constructors’ Championship for the second consecutive season, winning every race that year but one.AT&T has been a connectivity partner with Red Bull Racing for more than a decade and renewed its sponsorship in 2024. Although Hadjar and Verstappen are the faces of the sport, hundreds of people power each team. Hadjar explained how speed and efficiency in communication between drivers, engineers and other crew at the track and a