New Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton’s test crash on Wednesday occurred at Turn 12 of the Barcelona circuit, it has emerged.

And the seven-time World Champion’s accident proved extremely costly for team-mate Charles Leclerc, who was unable to take to the track at all on Wednesday as repairs were carried out by Ferrari.

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After the team’s traditional ‘wake-up’ test at Fiorano a week ago, Ferrari’s preparations for the F1 2025 season moved to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya this week for a three-day test with the 2023 car.

Leclerc and Hamilton split driving duties on Tuesday, with the former taking to the track in the morning session before Hamilton took over in the afternoon.

The running order was reversed on Wednesday as Hamilton conducted the team’s running during the morning session ahead of a planned changeover after lunch.

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However, Hamilton left the track and hit the barriers at around 11am local time, causing extensive damage to the car’s suspension and some aerodynamic components.

Initial reports from trackside claimed that Hamilton’s accident occurred in the final sector of the Barcelona lap, sparking fears that the Ferrari SF-23 left the road at one of the high-speed right-handers at the end of the lap.

However, a report by the Italian edition of Motorsport.com has revealed that the incident actually occurred at Turn 12, the long, winding right-hander preceding the high-speed section of track.

Despite the relatively low speeds, it is said that the crash caused significant damage to the front of the car with hours of repair work not completed before daylight had faded in Barcelona.

It meant Leclerc, gearing up for his seventh full season as a Ferrari driver having joined the Scuderia at the beginning of 2019, was prevented from taking to the track at all on Wednesday.

The report adds that Ferrari have decided against altering their schedule for the final day of running at the Spanish Grand Prix venue.

As planned, Hamilton and Leclerc will make way on Thursday for reserve driver Antonio Giovinazzi and junior star Dino Beganovic, the 21-year-old Swede who is set to test an F1 car for the first time.

Ferrari are hoping that they will be able to make up for their lack of running over the next week, with F1’s revised TPC [Testing of Previous Car] rules for 2025 allowing drivers competing in the World Championship to conduct 1,000 kilometres of TPC running spread over four separate test days.

It is speculated that Ferrari could remain in Barcelona after next week’s Pirelli tyre test to complete this week’s run plan.

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Hamilton and Leclerc are due back in Spain on February 4-5 to assist Pirelli’s development of the new tyres for 2026.

It means Hamilton will get a rare chance to drive Ferrari’s 2024 car in anger, with only cars older than two years allowed to be used for standard TPC tests.

Ferrari have produced a modified version of last year’s SF-24 chassis aimed at simulating the downforce and performance levels expected of the new cars for F1 2026.

Pirelli’s 2026 test program commenced at Paul Ricard on Wednesday, with Oscar Piastri completing 120 laps behind the wheel of McLaren’s 2023 car.

Piastri’s team-mate Lando Norris is expected to take over driving duties today.

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