Lewis Hamilton crashed during Ferrari’s second day of testing with its 2023 Formula 1 car at the Barcelona circuit on Wednesday.
After a maiden run in the SF-23 last week at Ferrari’s Fiorano test track, Hamilton’s preparation ahead of his first season driving for the Italian team has continued this week at Barcelona with a more extensive programme at the Spanish Grand Prix venue.
He is sharing the 2023 car with new team-mate Charles Leclerc, with Ferrari now using up three of the four days its race drivers are allowed to spend testing older cars this year.
Hamilton drove on Tuesday afternoon and continued on Wednesday morning, but crashed into the barriers.
The test is being run behind closed doors so details are limited but the incident occurred towards the end of the lap and Hamilton is understood to have been completely fine afterwards.
Motorsport.com Italy reported the incident caused enough bodywork and suspension damage for Ferrari to spend some time repairing the car, and that an initial plan for Leclerc to be able to take back over had to be abandoned as light had faded by the time repairs were complete.
This was set to be Hamilton's final day in the 2023 car building up familiarity and starting to push the limits more, with Leclerc there as a reference and to help get sharp ahead of the new season too.
Ferrari will remain at Barcelona with the SF-23 though as development drivers Antonio Giovinazzi and F1 test debutant Dino Beganovic were expected to be replacing Hamilton and Leclerc for a final day of testing on Thursday.
Hamilton will then get more track time with Ferrari back at Barcelona next week when he drives the 2024 car in a Pirelli tyre test, which Leclerc will also participate in, and where Ferrari will be joined by McLaren.
Ferrari will use a modified SF-24 car that has been tweaked to help simulate the downforce and performance characteristics of the 2026 rules, and aid in Pirelli's tyre development work.
The test is organised and run by Pirelli, so the programme is defined entirely by what F1’s tyre supplier requests.
This will mean Hamilton goes into the shakedown of Ferrari’s 2025 challenger, and more significantly the pre-season test in Bahrain at the end of February, with a broader understanding of the most recent Ferrari’s car characteristics, even though the mule car will not behave exactly like the real 2024 car did.
