Sebastian Vettel bruised after Fiorano crash

Sebastian Vettel got his 2017 season off to a bad start this week by crashing.

Although official testing does not begin for another two weeks, the German was at the wheel of Ferrari's 2015 tyre test 'mule' car on Thursday.

Vettel was testing Pirelli's wet tyres when amateur video footage depicts him evidently aquaplaning at speed before hitting a barrier at Ferrari's artificially-watered Fiorano circuit.

Reports indicate that the 29-year-old, who had been circulating in temperatures of 5 degrees C, was "unharmed", although the car was so damaged that running may not be able to resume on Friday.

Auto Motor und Sport says that Vettel sustained "minor bruises" in the impact.

Pirelli reportedly called it a "normal" accident.