Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton, Formula 1
Ryan Smart
British F1 icon David Coulthard has revealed his theory behind Lewis Hamilton's crash in testing for Ferrari.
Hamilton had what was described as a 'minor accident' at the Circuit de Catalunya' during his second test for Ferrari last week.
The seven-time world champion lost control of his car in the final sector before hitting the wall and causing damage to the suspension.
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Hamilton was fine after stepping out of the car, which was a 2023 Ferrari.
The Scuderia continued with their testing programme on the following day, though the repair time meant Charles Leclerc missed out on track time in Barcelona.
Now, speaking on the Formula For Success podcast alongside former Jordan team principal Eddie Jordan, Coulthard gave his theory as to why Hamilton had his accident.
"He had a small off there. Any small off you can call a crash," the 13-time Grand Prix winner began.
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"Going off is an occupational hazard. And it doesn't matter if you were the late great Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, or the current Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton. We can all have an off at any certain point.
"I see it as simple as this. He has to get used to the control system in that Ferrari, the power delivery. We're dealing with hybrid engines, so it's not the sort of natural torque acceleration of an internal combustion engine. Electrical energy comes in like that.
"And I suspect it was just, he's so embedded in his mind about the Mercedes hybrid Formula 1 engine that he was simply caught out.
"It'll take a few races. Because there's a testing that a driver does where you are very consciously going through the ABCs of the braking, the turn-in, the throttle application. You're in that space because you're developing the car and giving the feedback to the engineers.
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"And then, of course, there's racing, where you are just instinctively seeing and doing."
While the makeup of engines were different during Coulthard's time in racing, he competed for teams that ran four different engine providers - Renault, Cosworth, Ferrari and Mercedes.
McLaren used Mercedes power during Coulthard's time there between 1996 and 2004, with the Scot mirroring Hamilton by running under Ferrari power for the first time when driving for Red Bull in 2006.
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Speaking after testing the 2006 car for the time, the Scot didn't exactly give any secrets away about what it was like to drive under Ferrari power but did give an indication of how the engine - which was, and still to this day is, designed in Italy - works.
He told reporters: "The engine was delivered from Italy, but then everything has been built around it ... in terms of driving experience, the car performed as expected on track."