The Frenchman crashed in the closing stages of yesterday’s session on a treacherous track following the morning rain, forcing Red Bull to sit out today in order to assess the damage sustained.

Speaking to F1, Mekies analysed what happened to Hadjar: “It was a very tricky condition this afternoon, so very unfortunate that it finished that way. But it’s part of the game — again, very tricky, a lot of work to do on many aspects, and these sorts of things can happen.

“These difficulties 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, development and feedback to the engineers.”

Despite this, the team principal stressed that there is still a great deal of energy within the team: “Early days, but there’s great energy in the team, great spirits between Max and Isack and across the whole team. We can’t wait to have the next opportunity to run. As I said, it’s something we’re analysing now, and hopefully we’ll have some answers a bit later on.”

And when asked about when the RB22 will return to the track, Mekies added: “The priority right now is to assess the damage on the car and see what opportunities that gives us in terms of running over the next days.

“We only have one day left, so we need to make sure we play that card carefully. It’s an analysis that will still take a few hours.”

After rain heavily disrupted teams’ programmes — even though Red Bull and Ferrari still managed to run in wet conditions — far more stable weather is expected today at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, paving the way for more consistent on-track running.

While Red Bull will not be in action today, a large number of teams have taken advantage of the improved conditions to head out on track, including McLaren, which has made its first-ever appearance with the MCL40.