Heavy rain expected to hit Barcelona on F1's second test day
As F1 returns this week for pre-season testing, how could the weather affect the second test day?
The morning session on Tuesday is set to go green at 9:00 local time, with the morning session concluding at 13:00. Rain is forecast to start falling at about 9:00 as well, with the rain picking up throughout the day. It is also likely that there may be a thunderstorm in Barcelona at about midday as well, which may affect the ability to even send the cars out on track.
However, for the afternoon session, which begins at 14:00 local time and concludes at 18:00 - there is further heavy rain and thunderstorms expected.
On Monday, the drivers hit the circuit with some damp patches across the entire track, leading to the drivers tentatively racing around Barcelona, with any data still proving to be crucial, especially for the new team, Cadillac.
Read also
Isack Hadjar topped the timing tower on the first day with Red Bull Racing, as Max Verstappen is yet to get behind the wheel of the RB22 on track. Hadjar set a 1:18.159 around Barcelona, followed by George Russell, who was only half a second behind on his debut with Mercedes' W17.
However, conditions improved on Monday, with the drivers able to run on slick tyres and gather meaningful data. For Tuesday's proceedings however, it appears that conditions are only set to get worse throughout the day. This could mean that the drivers and teams will have severely limited running on the second day of testing.
A limited day of testing may assist other teams such as Aston Martin, who will only be participating in two out of the five days of testing at Barcelona, and Williams - who will not be participating at all in the Barcelona test. If the other teams are not able to gather as much consistent data, then both Aston Martin and Williams will not have lost as much data and experience with the 2026 cars as previously thought.
GPblog's latest F1 Paddock Update
Want to stay up-to-date with what happens in the F1 paddock? Then GPblog's F1 Paddock Update video is the perfect way to do it. Subscribe to GPblog's YouTube channel and turn on notifications to never miss the latest episodes.
Popular on GPBlog
Barcelona testing timings are online — and no one knows how's that possible
Hadjar tops the timesheets in Barcelona as Audi hit morning trouble
F1 LIVE | First Barcelona morning session in the books as Hadjar goes quickest
