Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMercedes

Unwell Hamilton ends test running

Lewis Hamilton's first day of testing for Mercedes has been cut short due to illness.

The 2014 world champion was in the car on Thursday morning but completed just 11 laps in the opening two hours before the team announced he was not well enough to continue.

Reserve driver Pascal Wehrlein - who was already driving for Force India - is taking over the W05 for the rest of the opening day. Wehrlein had been scheduled to drive for Force India on both Thursday and Sunday at Barcelona. Force India is likely to put Sergio Perez back in the VJM07, with the Mexican already at the Circuit de Catalunya.

Hamilton is supposed to drive for Mercedes again on Saturday, with Nico Rosberg in the car on days two and four.

Follow live coverage of the second test here.

Click here for the gallery from day one of the second test

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.