Lewis Hamilton has now revealed the full extent of the painful injury he suffered in the crash which badly hampered his debut season at Ferrari.
The 41-year-old Hamilton joined the Scuderia in early 2025 in a blaze of publicity, as the team’s tifosi expected him to claim an eighth world championship – this time in red.
Things did not turn out that way though as the British superstar struggled badly in alien surroundings and in a car that he just could not get to grips with.
Recently Hamilton dropped the bombshell that he had battled injury in 2025, and now he has gone in depth on the ‘private’ detail about how it affected him.
Hamilton provides full details about 2025 Barcelona crash
The injury, sustained in a crash in private testing in Barcelona in January 2025, left him with painful repercussions for several weeks afterwards.
Speaking to media as Austrian Grand Prix weekend kicked off in Spielberg, Hamilton said: “It is private, but I hit the wall very hard last year in testing and knocked out a disc in my neck, which went into the nerve.
“I couldn’t do a lot for like nine weeks. I was just having chiropractors every day, physio every day. I couldn’t sleep. Was on painkillers and had to get injections.
“I did everything I could to try to fix it. So that’s that’s what I was basically trying to live with, which is not easy in the seat position that you’re sitting in.”
Hamilton and Ferrari are firing again
While the pain of that injury, and that first season at Ferrari, is not forgotten by Hamilton things are looking very different now as he really starts to reshape his new team.
The former Mercedes star has spoken at length about how he has demanded change from the Italian team, and how they are really now starting to deliver.
Second-place finishes in Canada and Monaco showed signs of the old Hamilton returning, and that brilliant victory in Barcelona last time out confirmed that he also has a car capable of challenging the Mercedes dominance in 2026.
He continued: “I was just saying just in TV’s just like every single person on this team brings something to the table, and everyone’s levelling up, everyone’s pushing that extra bit harder than ever, maybe than they did they have before.
“We’re working more cohesively, more tight-knit than than ever before with great leadership from Fred.”
More Ferrari upgrades for Hamilton in Austria
Ferrari brought a significant raft of upgrades to its chassis before that groundbreaking victory in Barcelona, and this weekend in Austria the team has an upgraded power unit to bring to the party.
Hamilton says it is just another step forward for a time which appears to be making giant strides in a short space of time.
“To see improvements coming that we’re asking for, to see them come to Barcelona and also here. They’ve worked incredibly hard to take a step with the engine,” he revealed.
“It’s not the whole step, but it’s one foot forward, and that’s what we got to keep doing, just continue to put one foot in front of the other.”
Hamilton trails championship leader Kimi Antonelli by 41 points after his win in Barcelona and a DNF for the young Italian. Sunday’s race at the Red Bull Ring gets under way at 3pm local time (2pm UK).
