Red Bull misses start of Day Two’s action at Bahrain testing
Max Verstappen on track during the opening day of pre-season testing in Bahrain.
Red Bull is not expected to be on track at the start of Thursday’s play after encountering a routine issue, PlanetF1.com has learned.
Day Two of pre-season testing in Bahrain got underway on Thursday, but the Red Bull RB22 remained behind screens as Isack Hadjar’s start to the day was delayed.
Red Bull to miss start of Day Two’s play
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PlanetF1.com’s Thomas Maher reported that there would be no Red Bull expected on track for at least two hours, after encountering a routine issue during car build last night.
Red Bull told PlanetF1.com: “It’s a hydraulic leak on the chassis side that we’re trying to fix.”
Hadjar, who has replaced Max Verstappen for Day Two, is expected to be on track later in the morning.
Verstappen was the busiest driver on Day One as the four-time World Champion covered 136 laps, almost two-and-a-half race distances at the Sakhir circuit.
He clocked the second fastest time, finishing the day 0.129s down on Lando Norris’ pace-setting 1:34.669.
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“We had a good day, we got in a lot of laps and tested different programmes,” Verstappen said after his epic day out on track.
“Red Bull Ford Powertrains is still a completely new project, compared to others, so there is so much to keep learning and figuring out ahead of the first race.
“We went through a lot of testing procedures that we might run into during a race weekend: this might be more straightforward for a Power Unit manufacturer who has been in the game a long time, but when you are new, you need to test it all.
“Of course, we also did a lot of normal running. Everyone is running completely different programmes, so we are not focusing on lap times and the standings, but instead focusing on understanding the car and the tyres.
“It is a completely different track compared to Barcelona, so it is good to have that comparison.
“Looking at the day, it was all okay, and we didn’t run into trouble, which was the most important thing, so I can now look to Friday for what else we can learn.”
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
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