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Red Bull in danger of missing rest of F1 test after costly crash as confession made
Reach Daily Express | January 28, 2026 7:40 PM CST

Red Bull may have to forfeit the final third of their three-day testing allocation at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, with Laurent Mekies confessing that the team will need to "try our best to repair the car" after Isack Hadjar's costly crash on day two.

Hadjar enjoyed a strong opening day of testing in Spain, turning 108 laps in the RB22 on Monday before handing over the reins to Max Verstappen for the Tuesday morning session. The French-Algerian racer returned to the cockpit later on Tuesday but went off in slippery conditions, hitting the barrier at Turn 14.

"[There was] no chance for dry tyres, but some, some good learning on the wet," team principal Mekies explained. "Unfortunately, it didn't end up in the right way. But what is important that Isack is okay.

"We will try our best to repair the car and to see what's coming next. It was very tricky conditions this afternoon, so very unfortunate that it finished that way, but it's part of the game.

"These difficulties came after a very, very positive day yesterday in terms of the number of laps Isack could complete in the car, and in terms of his learning and development and feedback to the engineers."

Red Bull have already run two of their permitted three days of testing this week, so Mekies' squad at least have the luxury of spending Wednesday and Thursday assessing the damage before deciding if they have the necessary spares to hit the track on Friday for a third outing.

"The checklist is too long to be completed in just a few days in Barcelona," Mekies continued. "So it's always going to be a matter of priority, and trying to be flexible and adapt your programme as difficulties come out or in terms of when you find an interesting direction that you should pursue. We only have one day left, so we have to make sure we play that card carefully."

While other teams, including Mercedes and Haas, opted not to use one of their three testing days in the wet weather on Tuesday, Mekies believes that there were benefits to be gained from venturing out onto the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in such challenging conditions.

"We only got one run worth of dry running before the rain came," he elaborated. "We felt, anyway, that it was interesting to run in the rain, also with these regulations, and obviously everything is new."


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