Lewis Hamilton could miss FP2 for the Malaysian Grand Prix following a power unit problem on Friday morning.

Having completed just four laps, Hamilton pulled to the side of the track at Turn 9 due to a power unit issue which ended his running. Mercedes says it has now traced the issue to a specific component which is not part of the power unit limited to four per season, and as a result is trying to replace it to avoid using another engine.

"Investigations during the break have revealed a failure on the Power Unit inlet system of Lewis Hamilton's W06 Hybrid," Mercedes confirmed on Twitter. "This does not affect Lewis Hamilton's PU allocation for the season. Crew working hard to get him back out before the end of FP2."

Having failed to complete any meaningful running in the opening session of the weekend, missing second practice would put Hamilton on the back foot against team-mate Nico Rosberg, who was quickest in FP1.

Click here for Friday's gallery from the Malaysian Grand Prix

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

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.

Recent Posts

Singapore GP: Sunday's action in pictures

Max Verstappen finally managed to conquer Singapore’s unforgiving streets, holding off Charles Leclerc to claim…

12 hours ago

Norris rues McLaren’s shortfall: ‘We want to fight for wins’

Lando Norris earned himself a hard-fought fourth place finish in the Singapore Grand Prix, yet…

13 hours ago

Antonelli stunned by prospect of Austin coronation: ‘Can I really?’

Kimi Antonelli could be just one race away from a maiden Formula 1 world championship,…

13 hours ago

Leclerc: ‘I gave it my all’ but Ferrari still needs more

Charles Leclerc says he threw everything he had at Max Verstappen under the Singapore lights,…

14 hours ago

Verstappen savours Red Bull upturn, eyes ‘a bit more fun’

Max Verstappen is beginning to enjoy himself again, and his Formula 1’s rivals have every…

15 hours ago

Hamilton apologises to Ferrari for strategy blunder in Singapore GP

Lewis Hamilton has held his hands up after a strategic misjudgment wrecked his chances of…

15 hours ago