Lewis Hamilton’s chance to put crash behind him in third Ferrari test

Lewis Hamilton will have an immediate chance to put his Barcelona crash behind him when he drives for Ferrari this week.

The seven-time world champion suffered a minor setback in his preparations for his debut Ferrari F1 season when he crashed the team’s 2023 car on his third day of running for the Scuderia in a behind closed doors test.

Hamilton crashed into the barriers late on Wednesday morning in an incident which Ferrari were quick to downplay, regarding it as a normal part of private testing as he adapts to new machinery after 12 years at Mercedes.

The 40-year-old Briton has the opportunity to put the accident behind him when he returns to the Spanish Grand Prix venue with Ferrari on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Hamilton, along with teammate Charles Leclerc, will share driving duties as Ferrari conduct a test to aid Pirelli’s development of their 2026 tyres.

McLaren are also taking part in the test, which takes place over two days at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on 4-5 February.

Why Hamilton’s third test will be different

This time, however, Hamilton will get the chance to sample Ferrari’s much better 2024 car, the SF-24.

It will mark Hamilton’s first experience driving a new Ferrari and is set to provide a useful exercise of learning ahead of his first season in red.

After making his on-track Ferrari debut in their 2023 car at Fiorano, Hamilton piloted the SF-23 once again for their more extensive private test in Barcelona.

Hamilton’s third test will be different as the programme will be dictated by F1’s tyre supplier to meet Pirelli’s needs, rather than Ferrari and Hamilton’s.

He will also be behind the wheel of a modified SF-24 that has been tweaked to help simulate the downforce and performance characteristics of the new regulations that will be introduced next year.

It will still provide Hamilton with crucial track time to adapt to Ferrari’s working practices and continue to build a relationship with new race engineer Ricardo Adami.

Hamilton has already made breakthroughs with key learnings from his first two Ferrari tests, including familiarising himself with the start and clutch procedures, as well as getting used to the Ferrari braking system and pedals.

This is expected to be the last time Hamilton drives a Ferrari before he gets a first taste of the team’s 2025 challenger in a brief shakedown on 19 February.

Hamilton will then split three days of running with Leclerc in F1’s official pre-season test in Bahrain from 26-28 February before the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on 16 March.