McLaren rookie Lewis Hamilton escaped unharmed after badly damaging one of the team's new MP4-22 cars in a crash in testing at Valencia on Thursday.

The 22-year-old, on just his second day in the team’s latest challenger, will not now complete his testing programme at the Spanish circuit as the car will not be able to be fixed in time for Friday.

"Lewis is uninjured but the MP4-22 he was driving is badly damaged and will not be repairable in Valencia for Lewis to continue his test programme tomorrow," a McLaren spokesman said.

"The cause of the accident is being investigated."

Hamilton's smash came after 33 laps on the second day of McLaren's running at the Ricardo Tormo circuit, which is its first serious test with the MP4-22.

The Briton, preparing for his F1 debut in Melbourne in March, had set a best lap of 1m12.596s, with team-mate Fernando Alonso 0.9s quicker on a 1m11.698s after 76 laps.

The double world champion will now complete the team’s programme in the other MP4-22 on Friday.