Isack Hadjar Experiences Accident During Red Bull Private Test in Barcelona

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Red Bull Racing's young driver Isack Hadjar faced a significant obstacle during the second day of the 2026 Formula 1 preseason test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. The 21-year-old French driver experienced a severe accident while navigating the wet track.

After a successful debut campaign, Hadjar was promoted to the top Red Bull team for the 2026 season. However, his rise was met with challenges when he encountered the slippery conditions on the track during the private test.

According to eyewitnesses at the scene, the incident occurred while the conditions were drizzling. Hadjar was reportedly just leaving the pit with intermediate tires after using full wet tires earlier.

Unfortunately, on his first lap with those tires, he lost control at the last fast corner and slid into the barrier with the rear of his car first.

As of now, Red Bull has not issued an official statement regarding the extent of the car damage. This is because the test was conducted behind closed doors without access to independent media.

Despite this, Team Principal Laurent Mekies provided a response to the incident that befell his young driver.

"The conditions were extremely difficult, so it's a shame it ended like this, but it's part of the game," Mekies said.

Mekies maintained a positive view of Hadjar's overall performance, emphasizing that prior to the incident, the young driver had a smooth adaptation process.

"The difficulty came after a day that was extremely, extremely positive in terms of the number of laps Isack completed in the car, as well as his learning, development, and feedback to the engineers. We will try to do the best we can to improve the car and see what happens next," Mekies added.

Before the incident, Red Bull had shown promising progress. Max Verstappen, a four-time world champion, had an opportunity to drive the car for the first time during the morning session.

Although Verstappen briefly drifted off the track at Turn 5 on his first lap out of the pits, he managed to return to the track without sustaining significant damage.

Regulations state that Red Bull now has only one day remaining to utilize the circuit, having spent their two allotted days out of the total five available during this test week.

The focus for Red Bull's engineering team is to work as quickly as possible to repair the car in order to make the most of the remaining test time available to them.