Lewis Hamilton is testing in Barcelona this week as Ferrari give their new seven-time champion racer as much time as possible to prepare for the start of the new Formula 1 season
Lewis Hamilton has crashed his Ferrari during his Barcelona test with his new team.
The seven-time champion lost control of his car while driving around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Wednesday. He is driving as part of a testing session which Ferrari has organised to help get the Brit up to speed before his debut race with the team.
But things went wrong on Wednesday, it is understood. At around 11am local time Hamilton lost control of the car and buried it into a barrier while navigating the final sector of the circuit.
Hamilton was unharmed in the incident and is said to have exited the cockpit of the car under his own power. But “significant damage” was apparently done to the SF-23 he was driving, Ferrari’s challenger from the 2023 Formula 1 season.
The crash has caused plenty of disruption to the Italian team’s plans. F1 teams are strictly limited in terms of the amount of Testing Previous Cars (TPC) running they are allowed to carry out, with just four days per year permitted. Ferrari are using all of their this month to help Hamilton acclimatise to his new surroundings.
The crash cut short Hamilton’s driving session which was supposed to last across his third day out of four. The damaging incident disrupted testing sessions for Charles Leclerc whose schedule now faces delays due to the car structure deterioration.
On Thursday Hamilton will continue the track sessions for the three days Ferrari reserved at Montmelo. The three days after the Fiorano track test at the team facility last week will mark the conclusion of TPC testing authorized for Hamilton by the end of Thursday.
For any new Formula One team navigating pre-season testing issues is a common experience Hamilton has gone through before. Ferrari marks the third team in Formula One for Hamilton since his professional racing started and he experienced crashes during preseason testing for both McLaren and Mercedes before coming to Ferrari.
When he started at Mercedes he experienced a brake malfunction during preseason testing. One of the most severe incidents came before his 2007 McLaren rookie campaign when Hamilton smashed into a tire barrier moving at 185 mph.
An extensive amount of damage required McLaren to conduct testing with one remaining car instead of two. Speaking of his incident at the time, Hamilton said: These unfortunate incidents occur frequently in this sport. Through the entire experience I maintained full consciousness and suffered no injuries.