Lewis Hamilton crashes during second F1 test for Ferrari in Barcelona

Lewis Hamilton has crashed his Ferrari on day two of the Italian team’s private test at Spain’s Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

The seven-time World Champion escaped unhurt in the incident, with the team now working hard to fix the car in a bid to allow team mate Charles Leclerc to complete his running.

This was Hamilton’s second proper day of testing a Ferrari, having run the 2023-spec car on Tuesday without any problems, and is in addition to the 30 exploratory laps he completed in his first taste of red machinery last week at Fiorano.

Ferrari are not believed to be concerned and consider the ‘off’ part and parcel of a driver getting up to speed with a new team and exploring the limits of his new machinery.

Hamilton has been testing in Barcelona alongside new team mate Leclerc

The test at Barcelona is taking place behind closed doors and is part of a programme of running to help Hamilton adjust to his new car after 12 years with rival team Mercedes.

Testing restrictions mean Hamilton, like all drivers, is limited to the amount of mileage he can do before the season gets under way in Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix on 14-16 March.

MUST-SEE: Join Hamilton for his very first lap as a Ferrari F1 driver at Fiorano

A team’s race drivers can complete a maximum of 1000km between them in old-spec machinery. That’s only around 215 laps of Spain’s Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Speaking to me last month, Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur admitted it was a “rush” but had no concerns about Hamilton getting up to speed.

Lewis Hamilton's first days in Ferrari red

“I’m not worried at all,” he said. “He’s coming with experience of this. He did almost 20 seasons in F1 – and he will manage perfectly this period.”

Beyond this week’s test in Barcelona, Hamilton is expected to get more mileage in a Ferrari when the Italian team take part in a two-day Pirelli tyre test at the same venue next week.

That will be conducted in a 2024-spec Ferrari, which won five Grands Prix last year but will be modified to replicate the performance characteristics of a 2026 car, with the run plan defined by tyre supplier Pirelli.

Hamilton will then get his hands on the new-for-2025 Ferrari at Fiorano on February 19 in a shakedown as part of their launch before running it for 1.5 days at the pre-season test in Bahrain, which starts on February 26.