Sebastien Bourdais wrecked the Toro Rosso F1 team's new car on its maiden appearance during testing in Spain.
Toro Rosso are hoping the STR3 will make its full debut at next month's Turkish Grand Prix in Istanbul.
But Frenchman Bourdais, in his debut F1 season, crashed into a barrier at the Circuit de Catalunya on Wednesday.
Toro Rosso boss Franz Tost said: "He simply went too fast." The damage means Sebastian Vettel will be unable to use the car in the final day of testing.
Four-time Champ Car title winner Bourdais was eighth quickest of the 10 drivers in action, with a best lap of one minute 20.715 seconds.
His time was nearly 2.3 secs adrift of Fernando Alonso, who topped the unofficial timesheets in his Renault, albeit on slick tyres.
A number of teams are using this week's testing to evaluate slicks, which make a return to the sport next season.
Alonso comfortably pipped old adversary Michael Schumacher in his Ferrari by almost a second.
The seven-time F1 world champion was helping the Italian team with their own appraisal of the Bridgestone rubber.
Adrian Sutil was third fastest for Force India, followed by the BMW Sauber of Robert Kubica, Williams' Nico Rosberg and Rubens Barrichello (Honda).
Lewis Hamilton continued his preparations for next week's Spanish GP at the same venue by completing 102 laps, setting the seventh best time of 1:20.591.
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