![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/G_qmBcqXsAEvNH6.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nThe second day of Formula 1 testing at Barcelona was book-ended by red flags caused by Red Bull, though one incident was more severe than the other.<\/p>\n
Max Verstappen got his first taste of Red Bull\u2019s RB22 on Tuesday and immediately slid through the gravel with it on his outlap.<\/p>\n
That caused a brief red flag and the Red Bull was in the garage for a while after, then it rained later in the morning, so Verstappen only got a limited number of laps in the dry.<\/p>\n
It was enough to set the pace on the day, with a 1m19.578s ahead of Charles Leclerc, although this was 1.4s slower than team-mate Isack Hadjar\u2019s Monday best.<\/p>\n
Hadjar and Lewis Hamilton took over their respective cars in the afternoon but ran in the rain so their times were a long way off.<\/p>\n
Day two testing times<\/p>\n
1 Verstappen (Red Bull) 1m19.578s – 27 laps
2 Leclerc (Ferrari) 1m20.844s – 66 laps
3 Hadjar (Red Bull) 1m31.891s – 42 laps
4 Hamilton (Ferrari) 1m32.872s – 57 laps<\/p>\n
Team lap totals
Ferrari – 123 laps
Red Bull – 69 laps<\/p>\n
Ferrari hits the ground running<\/p>\n
After a 15km shakedown at Fiorano last week, Ferrari always intended to get stuck into this test on day two.<\/p>\n
The rain was not ideal but it didn\u2019t deter Ferrari from running. A very productive day, with both drivers getting behind the wheel, meant the team cleared 100 laps despite the conditions.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t nearly as eye-catching as customer team Haas\u2019s 154-lap effort on day one but it underlined Ferrari\u2019s good early reliability with its new engine.<\/p>\n
Leclerc said: \u201cObviously being the first morning, we’ve gone through the very first preliminary check of the of the car, which everything went properly, and little by little, we’ll just go through our checklist of the first systems to then eventually what matters most, which is performance.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut this will come probably a bit later on in those three days, and trying to understand, first how everything behaves, and then see how it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hamilton\u2019s running was split between using intermediate and wet tyres and he had a small off as the rain intensified.<\/p>\n
Ferrari\u2019s head of track engineering Matteo Togninalli called it a \u201cproductive day\u201d considering the conditions.<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite the rain, we completed solid mileage and, most importantly, had no major reliability issues, which is the key priority with a new car and power unit,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Red Bull\u2019s dream start sours![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/e8aac5c7-3a13-4168-8b6f-1d25147bd677--1---1--1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Monday could not have gone better for Red Bull. Tuesday was a bump back down to earth.<\/p>\n
Verstappen\u2019s curtailed running in the morning meant the four-time world champion barely scratched the surface of learning the car and engine. And it deprived Red Bull important mileage in understanding both.<\/p>\n
But Hadjar\u2019s shunt was (literally) more damaging. <\/p>\n
Red Bull team boss Laurent Mekies said it was unclear when the car could be repaired to run again this week. He even hinted Red Bull might not be able to fix the damage at the track when he said the team would \u201ctry to\u201d.<\/p>\n
You would think Red Bull must be fine on spares, otherwise it would have been more cautious about running a lot in the wet, but once it committed to starting its day it was also caught with trying to make the best of it.<\/p>\n
Teams use up one of their three permitted days the moment they leave the pits. So even though the dry running was compromised and the afternoon was wet, Red Bull would have wasted a day being conservative.<\/p>\n
Hopefully there are enough spares for it to conclude its programme normally, but that is presumably Hadjar\u2019s first test over given he had a day to himself already. So it ended negatively after claiming on Monday he couldn\u2019t have prepared better and he\u2019d had a \u201cvery good first day\u201d.<\/p>\n
McLaren pushes debut to Wednesday![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/MCL40_81-1-1.png\")
<\/p>\n
McLaren did not join Ferrari in making its test debut on Tuesday, opting instead to push it to Wednesday.<\/p>\n
This was always an option the team had in mind for its MCL40, as a Wednesday start still allows McLaren to maximise its three-day allowance for the week.<\/p>\n
And though it puts a little bit of pressure on McLaren to maximise each of the days, with no \u2018time off\u2019 between to go over data or address issues, the later start has conversely allowed it to be better prepared for its first track running.<\/p>\n
Wednesday will mark the MCL40\u2019s shakedown as it has not run prior to this week\u2019s test.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe plan to run on track for the final three days of testing, while the opening days have provided an important opportunity for the full car to be assembled and checked,\u201d McLaren said.<\/p>\n
Which teams didn\u2019t return<\/p>\n
Red Bull was the only team from Monday to reappear immediately on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The rest opted to wait, and will have different reasons for that.<\/p>\n