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

Ocon issues statement – denies physical clash with Haas boss

Esteban Ocon has forcefully rejected rumours of a physical confrontation with Haas team principal Ayao…

1 hour ago

Lawson disqualified from Mexico GP qualifying

Liam Lawson’s promising qualifying performance in Mexico City has been wiped from the record after…

3 hours ago

Mexico City GP: Saturday's action in pictures

Lewis Hamilton stole the spotlight on the day at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez with a…

11 hours ago

Hamilton ‘lost for words’ after emotional Ferrari milestone

Lewis Hamilton has waited a long time for this one. Three years, to be precise.…

11 hours ago

Mexico City GP: Hamilton powers to first pole with Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton delivered a landmark result for Ferrari by claiming pole position for the Mexico…

12 hours ago

Mexico City Grand Prix - Qualifying results

Full results from qualifying for the Mexico City Grand Prix at Mexico, round 19 of…

12 hours ago