<figure id="attachment_3268167" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3268167" style="width: 1600px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-3268167 size-full" src="https://media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/7efbe4c8-13557443_2_cropped_1.webp" alt="" width="1600" height="1000" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3268167" class="wp-caption-text">Red Bull’s team principal said the important thing is that driver Isack Hadjar is okay and that the team will do its best to repair the car. (EPA Images pic)</figcaption></figure>
BARCELONA: Red Bull were forced to reconsider their pre-season testing schedule at Barcelona&#8217;s Circuit de Catalunya after new recruit Isack Hadjar crashed in wet conditions yesterday.
The 21-year-old Frenchman, promoted from Racing Bulls, lost control at the final corner in the afternoon and spun backwards into the barriers during a session being held behind closed doors.
Team principal Laurent Mekies said the team were assessing the damage before deciding their plans for the rest of the week.
Red Bull, now making their own engine, have used two of their three days and could delay running again until Friday if necessary.
&#8220;What is important is that Isack is okay and we&#8217;ll try our best to repair the car and to see what&#8217;s coming next,&#8221; Mekies said in comments to the governing FIA.
&#8220;The priority right now&#8230; is to assess the damage on the car, to see what it gives to us in terms of opportunities to run in the next days.
&#8220;We only have one day (available) left, so we have to make sure we play that card carefully and it&#8217;s an analysis that will take still a few hours,” Mekies said.
The incident came after Hadjar described Monday&#8217;s dry running as &#8220;pretty productive&#8221;, after completing numerous laps in the RB22 chassis.
The five-day shakedown will be followed by two pre-season tests, open to the media, in Bahrain in February.
Only Red Bull, with four times world champion Max Verstappen testing in the morning, and Ferrari ran on Tuesday due to the weather forecast.
Seven times world champion Lewis Hamilton said it had been a very challenging day, with the rain coming at around 1030, but still very productive with around 120 laps on the board straight away for Ferrari.
&#8220;We got a lot of information from the car today, we definitely need to keep it up,&#8221; said the Briton, who has yet to drive the car in the dry.
&#8220;There were no major issues&#8230; we just need to get some more days like this,&#8221; he said.
The 2026 season marks the start of a new engine era with an overhaul of the technical regulations.
World champions McLaren postponed their track debut until Wednesday due to the weather and will now participate in the final three days of testing.

MatchPoint Times

Hadjar crashes Red Bull car in Barcelona pre-season testing

Isack Hadjar lost control at the final corner and spun backwards into the barriers during a session being held behind closed doors.

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