SMASHING TIME ... Lewis Hamilton walks away from his crashed car
Published: 3 hrs ago
LEWIS HAMILTON’s racing career at Mercedes has hit the skids once again after he crashed out of Wednesday’s testing session.
The Brit made a bold choice to ditch McLaren at the end of last season and make a leap of faith to Merc.
The 28-year-old had hoped to turn last season’s under-performers into title contenders — something seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher failed to do.
TESTING TIME ... Lewis Hamilton
And now Hamilton must be wondering whether it is going to take even more work than he first expected after ploughing into the crash barriers in Jerez.
Hamilton ran off at the turn six hairpin bend known as 'Dry Sack' on his 15th lap and scuttled 40-yards across the gravel and into the tyre wall.
CHECK .. Lewis Hamilton is met by marshalls who ask if he is OK
He got out the car and looked shaken up before his car was taken back to the team’s garage on a flatbed truck.
Mercedes later confirmed the crash was caused by a rear brake failute and they would not return to the track for the rest of the day.
NOT SO FAST NOW ... Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes is loaded onto a truck
The team's wretched luck comes after Hamilton’s team-mate Nico Rosberg managed just 13 laps in the previous days test after it caught fire.
They discovered that and electrical fault caused the problem and they needed the whole of the afternoon session to repair the problem.
They now face the prospect of losing even more valuable testing time while they try to repair Hamilton’s motor.
