Hamilton crashes during private Ferrari test

The seven-time champion was taking part in a three-day outing at the Spanish GP venue when Day 2 of running came to an early end.

Hamilton crashed at around 11:00am local time on Wednesday at Turn 12, a long right-hander towards the end of the lap.

The 40-year-old was unharmed in the incident though the car is understood to have suffered suspension and bodywork damage after it contacted the barrier.

He was at the wheel of Ferrari’s 2023 car, the SF-23, as he drove at Fiorano in his maiden outing with the Scuderia last week.

The team described the crash as “pretty normal”, however, an off during testing, especially Testing Previous Cars (TPC) outings, is unusual as drivers are typically not at the limit.

Instead, the focus is on familiarisation with systems and processes and cars run on specific testing-spec Pirelli tyres, unlike those used in a regular race event.

Hamilton’s crash impacted the Scuderia’s further run plans, with Charles Leclerc’s time at the wheel on Wednesday cancelled as a consequence.

Under TPC regulations, teams are allowed to complete 1000km of running with their race drivers during the year.

Behind the scenes at Hamilton’s first F1 Ferrari experience

Hamilton and Leclerc combined to clock up 131km in Fiorano last week ahead of the three-day test in Barcelona.

That left a maximum of 186 laps of running between the team’s two drivers in the TPC machine.

Heading into the final day of the outing on Thursday, driving duties will be passed to reserve driver Antonio Giovinazzi, who’ll share the car with Dino Beganovic

Beganovic was sixth in last year’s Formula 3 Championship and has now reached the mandatory 40-point threshold (he’s amassed 43 in the past three seasons) to qualify for an FIA Super Licence.

That opens the possibility of the team using the Swede for its Friday practice outings during the coming year.

Previously, Robert Shwartzman had completed those duties, though the Russian-Israeli driver has since left Ferrari to race with Prema in the IndyCar Series in 2025.

Giovinazzi is ineligible as he competed in 62 grands prix from 2017 to 2021.