The pairing of F1’s most popular driver and its most popular team has proven to be a marketer’s wet dream. However, as the focus shifts to the track, things aren’t going as smoothly for the seven-time F1 champion. Hamilton crashed a 2023 Ferrari F1 car during a private testing session on Wednesday, his first test driving with the iconic Italian team.
Hamilton crashed an SF-23 into the barriers while driving through the third sector of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, according to Motorsport.com. The 40-year-old walked away unharmed, but the Ferrari suffered bodywork and suspension damage. The crash was severe enough that it might derail the testing schedule of Hamilton’s teammate Charles Leclerc, who won’t be able to drive again until Thursday. Motorsport.com reports:
Charles Leclerc had been due to take over driving duties in what is a Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) session, which counts towards the four days and 1,000km yearly totals each F1 team can use with its race drivers in cars that are two years old or more.
Leclerc’s run on Wednesday has been delayed while Ferrari fixes the SF-23 car – a variant of the machine that secured just a single win via Hamilton’s predecessor, Carlos Sainz, in the 2023 season.
Hamilton’s crash will likely be a slight bump for Ferrari, not a season-altering incident. Any F1 driver would rather crash in testing than an actual race. Off-track, the hall-of-famer’s move to the Italian team has been an undeniable commercial success before the first race. A stylish photo of Lewis Hamilton during his first day with Ferrari in Maranello quickly became the most-liked Instagram post in F1 history, garnering over 5.6 million likes.