Hamilton out of Q3 with ERS problem

Lewis Hamilton has been ruled out of Q3 at the Russian Grand Prix with an ERS problem.

The defending champion was second fastest in Q2 but did not emerge for the final part of qualifying as Mercedes confirmed a recurrence of the ERS problem which had struck him in China.

Hamilton suffered the issue on the out lap of his second run in Q2, leaving him tenth in the standings but facing the prospect of a penalty for any replacement parts.

Speaking to Sky Sports after being ruled out of the final part of qualifying, Hamilton said it was clear the issue was the same once he took to the track.

“It was the second engine that I took from the last race and the same failure that I had in the last race," Hamilton said.

“Nope [no warning], just went back out at the end of Q2 and I lost the same power as I lost in China.”

Sebastian Vettel already had a five-place grid penalty looming over him as a result of a gearbox change.

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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.