Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies has not travelled to Bahrain for the first official F1 pre-season test, which gets underway tomorrow.
The three-day event runs from Wednesday, 11 February to Friday, 13 February, but the Frenchman has stayed at home after a minor routine medical procedure, RacingNews365 understands.
The 48-year-old is expected to be in close contact with the team and is also anticipated to be present at the Bahrain International Circuit for the second pre-season test, from February 18-20.
Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar enjoyed strong reliability from the brand-new Red Bull power unit during the closed-door test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya at the end of January.
The latter did experience a crash during one of his sessions, but nonetheless spent 158 laps behind the wheel of the RB22.
His four-time F1 drivers' champion team-mate completed 13 fewer, for a total count of 145.
Also interesting:
Join RacingNews365's Ian Parkes, Sam Coop and Nick Golding, as they look ahead to the first of two three-day tests in Bahrain! The trio discuss who to keep an eye on and the fascinating approaches being taken to car development in 2026.
Rather watch the podcast? Then click here!
Get the latest F1 news from RacingNews365 directly in your Google feed! Click on the link below and you’ll see your favourite F1 website appearing even more often. That way, you’ll never miss any news, analyses, interviews, or exclusives.
Follow RacingNews365 on GoogleMost read
In this article
Never miss a thing from the Formula 1 season! Add the 2026 F1 schedule to your calendar at the touch of a button. Subscribe below and put the dates and times of every race directly on your PC or smartphone, so you don't miss a second from the new season.
Download the F1 calendar Download the F1 calendar
A variant with just the race and qualifying is also available.
Click here to download it..
Join the conversation!