Isack Hadjar crashes Red Bull as Ferrari joins second day of F1 test
Only two teams featured on the second day of F1's private shakedown test in Barcelona.
Ferrari joined the behind closed doors F1 test in Barcelona on a second day of running that was interrupted by wet weather and two Red Bull-related red flags.
Tuesday marked the first time Ferrari’s 2026 challenger, the SF-26, joined the action during F1’s five-day private shakedown at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, while Red Bull’s Max Verstappen also drove for the first time this year.
Ferrari and Red Bull were the only two teams in action on Tuesday, with McLaren opting to delay the start of their testing programme until Wednesday. Both teams got running in wet and dry conditions.
Verstappen caused a brief red flag in the morning when he ran through the gravel during an outlap at Turn 5, but the Dutchman avoided further drama.
The four-time world champion clocked 27 laps in the RB22 before handing over to new Red Bull teammate Isack Hadjar, who also brought out a red flag when he crashed at Turn 14 in the final hour on his 51st lap.
Video footage online showed Hadjar in the wall with the rear of his Red Bull in the barriers. Hadjar was unhurt in the incident which broke the rear wing and suspension, prematurely ending Red Bull's day.
Charles Leclerc completed 64 laps in the morning before Lewis Hamilton got a first proper taste of the SF-26. The seven-time world champion lapped 45 times before the late red flag.
According to SoyMotor, Hadjar did a best time of 1m31.981s, compared to 1m33.455s for Hamilton amid the on-off rain throughout the afternoon.
Verstappen was fastest in the dry conditions with an unofficial time of 1m19.578s compared to Leclerc’s 1m20.844s, Leclerc was quicker in the wet, lapping in 1m32.088s over Verstappen’s 1m38.254s.
New Ferrari ‘working as it should’
Leclerc gave a positive first verdict after driving Ferrari's SF-26 in the morning.
"It was nice to be back in the car. Back in a very, very all-new car and very different to what we have been driving so far,” he said.
"For now it’s all about trying to understand if everything is working properly, which it kind of did.
"It’s not the best conditions because it has been a little bit raining this morning but actually we did our programme anyway because we are not focused on performance whatsoever.
"We’re more about looking at all the systems that are new on this car and seeing if everything works as it should. It did, so that’s a positive. Then we will go through slowly our programme."
Mercedes, Racing Bulls, Haas, Audi, Alpine and Cadillac chose to sit out of the day given the interchangeable conditions throughout Tuesday.
F1 teams are allowed to run their new cars on any three days of their choosing throughout the week.
Aston Martin, who are are yet to run their 2026 F1 car, will join the test no earlier than Thursday, while Williams are missing the entire shakedown after failing to get their FW48 challenger ready on time.
More showers are forecast on Wednesday, with conditions set to improve for the final two days of running on Thursday and Friday.
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