Hamilton crashed Ferrari in Barcelona
The seven-time world champion was due to hand over Ferrari’s 2023 SF-23 to his new teammate Charles Leclerc for further testing on Wednesday, but the session in Barcelona was interrupted by the incident.
Lewis Hamilton suffered an accident during the second of three days of private testing at Ferrari on the Barcelona track, British Motorsport reports.
According to available information, Hamilton was not injured in the incident, which occurred while passing the third sector of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya track at around 11 am.
The seven-time champion crashed into the guardrail with a modified version of Ferrari’s 2023 car, which suffered damage to its suspension and aerodynamic components.
Hamilton exited the car, which was then returned to the pits where Ferrari is analyzing the cause of the accident.
Charles Leclerc was due to take the wheel as part of the Test Pre-Pickup (TPC) session, which counts towards the four days and 1,000 kilometers a year that each team can use to test race drivers in cars two years old or more.
Leclerc’s Wednesday test has been postponed while Ferrari repairs the SF-23 – a variant of the car that achieved just one win in the 2023 season thanks to Hamilton’s predecessor, Carlos Sainz.
Ferrari’s TPC team, working under the supervision of former F1 driver and deputy team principal Jerome D’Ambrosio, and new technical director Loic Serra, will take the opportunity to replace Leclerc’s seat, pedals, steering wheel and other cockpit parts to complete the repairs as quickly as possible and avoid further loss of time.
The testing is scheduled to last until Thursday, and was preceded by Hamilton and Leclerc’s testing last week at Ferrari’s home track in Fiorano.
That outing also counted towards the 2025 TPC quota, and Hamilton covered just 89 kilometers on that occasion in his first appearance in a Ferrari F1 car, while his teammate Charles Leclerc completed 42 kilometers.
The test in Barcelona was organized to take advantage of better weather conditions compared to the cold and rainy weather in Fiorano last week.