Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies described Isack Hadjar’s crash on the second day of preseason testing as “unfortunate,” adding that the team was still assessing the knock-on impact for Red Bull’s remaining day of testing in Barcelona later this week.
The test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, which is closed to fans and media, presents all teams with the opportunity to hit the track on three of five days this week, with Red Bull opting to run on the opening two days.
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New-recruit Hadjar set the fastest time on a dry day of testing on Monday with 107 laps, but after sharing the second day with teammate Max Verstappen, the French driver finished the wet afternoon session with the rear of his car in the wall at the final corner.
“Look, it was a very tricky condition this afternoon, so very unfortunate that it finished that way, but it’s part of the game,” Mekies said. “Again, very tricky, a lot of work to do on many aspects and these sort of things can happen.
“These difficulties today 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.
“So, early days, but great energy in the team, great spirits between Max and Isack and the whole team and we just can’t wait to have the next possibility to run. But as I said, it’s something we are trying to analyse now and hopefully we get some answer a bit later on.”
Because the track is not open to media, it was not entirely clear what caused the accident or how extensive the damage was.
Red Bull has now used up two of its days on track, meaning it has one more day available to use on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday.
It gives the team two full days to fix the car if needed, but on Tuesday evening Mekies indicated that the plan for the remaining days was still unclear — raising the possibility that the team may not have enough spare parts this early in preseason to continue the test.
“The priority right now, as we speak tonight, is to assess the damage on the car and to see what does it give to us in terms of opportunities to run in the next day,” Mekies said. “We only have one day left, so we have to make sure we place that card carefully and it’s an analysis that will take still a few hours.”
He added: “The checklist is too long to be completed in just a few days in Barcelona, 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 when you find interesting directions that you should pursue.”
Verstappen drove the new Red Bull in the morning, and while he enjoyed some dry running before the rain came, he only completed 27 laps in total.
Hadjar added 51 before his accident, meaning the team’s total is now 185 laps over two days.
It was a number Mekies said he took pride in as Red Bull is producing its own power unit for the first time ever this year.
“I have to say in terms of what we were expecting from the power unit on these first couple of days, I can only repeat how proud we are from everybody back at base to have managed to give us something that we could actually run with,” Mekies said.
“And of course, it’s very early days and of course, nothing is perfect, but we could run, we could start to learn, work as one team. So, look, that was a huge satisfaction.
“It doesn’t change the size of the journey in front of us, but certainly it’s a first moment that everybody in Milton Keynes should be proud of.”
Following this week’s test in Barcelona, two further three-day tests are scheduled in Bahrain before the first race of the season in Australia on March 8.
