Why Anthony Davidson objected to Lewis Hamilton driving on after his FP3 crash

Anthony Davidson has criticised Lewis Hamilton’s actions following his crash in final practice for the Spanish Grand Prix, arguing that safety had to take priority once the damaged Ferrari continued moving after the Turn 22 impact. Hamilton received repeated instructions from Ferrari to stop the SF-26 but initially attempted to make his way back towards the pits before eventually parking the car.

The incident became one of the major talking points from a disrupted FP3 at Madrid’s new Madring circuit. Hamilton had locked up and gone into the barriers at the final corner, damaging the front of the car. Although he managed to reverse away from the wall and continue, the condition of the Ferrari prompted increasingly urgent radio instructions from race engineer Carlo Santi.

Anthony Davidson criticises Lewis Hamilton after Madrid FP3 crash

Sky Sports F1 analyst Anthony Davidson took issue with Hamilton’s decision to keep moving once the damaged SF-26 had escaped from the barriers. His view contrasted sharply with Ted Kravitz, who had praised the seven-time world champion’s thinking in managing to select reverse and extract the car from the accident scene.

Davidson rejected that assessment and argued that young drivers watching the incident should understand that continuing in those circumstances was not acceptable. In his view, the safety rules existed precisely because damaged components could move underneath the car and create a much more dangerous situation.

The former Formula 1 driver highlighted the possibility of a damaged front wing becoming trapped beneath the chassis and lifting the front wheels away from the track. If that happened, Davidson explained, the driver could lose the ability to steer at a time when marshals might already be on the circuit during a red-flag period.

For Davidson, the status or experience of the driver made no difference. He maintained that even a seven-time world champion could not safely control a car if the front wheels were no longer in proper contact with the ground. His central point was that race-control procedures and stop instructions were designed around potentially serious scenarios, making safety the overriding consideration.

Lewis Hamilton ignored repeated Ferrari instructions to stop

According to the account of the incident, Lewis Hamilton ignored five instructions from Carlo Santi to stop the car. The race engineer’s frustration became increasingly audible over the radio as Hamilton continued to play down the seriousness of the damage and attempted to make progress around the circuit.

The situation only ended after Santi informed the British driver that race control itself had ordered the car to stop. At that stage, Hamilton pulled the Ferrari to the side of the circuit and abandoned the attempt to return to the garage.

The sequence added another layer to an already difficult session for the seven-time world champion, whose Madrid weekend with Ferrari had included encouraging pace before the final-corner error brought his FP3 running to an abrupt end.

Red flag interrupts Ferrari’s final qualifying preparation

Hamilton’s accident triggered a lengthy red flag while marshals repaired the damaged barriers. Race control subsequently chose to stop the session clock with 15 minutes remaining, allowing the field to complete a few more laps of data gathering once the circuit had been made safe.

That decision was particularly important with qualifying approaching and teams still learning the characteristics of the new Madring venue. The full timetable for the inaugural event formed part of the 2026 Spanish Grand Prix schedule, with Saturday practice representing the final opportunity to refine the cars before the grid-setting session.

Ferrari was able to repair Hamilton’s SF-26 in time for qualifying, where the Briton ultimately recovered to take fourth on the grid. He even moved onto provisional pole during the opening Q3 runs before the order changed on the final attempts, as detailed in the Spanish Grand Prix qualifying report.

Madring crashes reinforce pre-weekend safety concerns

The Hamilton incident also fitted into a broader pattern of interruptions at the new circuit. Max Verstappen had warned before the Madring’s Formula 1 debut that the layout could produce significant crashes, and Hamilton’s impact became the second red flag of the weekend.

FP3 then ended with another accident when Oliver Bearman crashed, producing the third red flag of the event up to that point. The succession of incidents reinforced how little margin for error drivers had around sections of the Madrid circuit.

For Ferrari, the immediate sporting consequences were ultimately contained. The team repaired Hamilton’s car and still had both SF-26s fighting near the front later in the day, although the final Q3 runs left the Scuderia with fourth and fifth rather than a front-row starting position. A more detailed look at that progression is available in the analysis of how Ferrari’s Madrid qualifying promise faded during the decisive runs.

Davidson’s criticism, however, centred on something separate from outright performance. His argument was that once a damaged car is moving under red-flag conditions, the possible consequences of continuing outweigh the desire to save time, equipment or return the car to the garage. From his perspective, the sequence involving Hamilton demonstrated exactly why drivers are expected to obey stop instructions immediately when safety is in question.