Lewis Hamilton crashed his McLaren towards the end of the morning practice session at wet Hockenheim on Friday.

In tricky conditions that also caused many of his rivals to spin or run off the German track, the McLaren driver lost control on the exit of turn three and made sideways contact with the barrier.

“The car is damaged — heavily,” he sheepishly told his team by radio before angrily emerging from the MP4-25, featuring a revised blown exhaust update that McLaren is testing at Hockenheim.

Jenson Button, second in the drivers’ championship behind Hamilton, also radioed the pitwall during the session, complaining about “terrible” rear handling issues.

Shortly afterwards, as a dry line began to emerge, Bruno Senna marked his return to the HRT cockpit by beaching the car in the gravel at the final corner.