SUZUKA – Lewis Hamilton’s early season woes have been compounded by Mercedes confirming on April 5 that the seven-time world champion has already lost one of his four allotted engines, meaning he could face grid penalties later in the season.

Hamilton, in his final season with the Silver Arrows before he joins Ferrari in 2025, retired from the Australian Grand Prix after a sudden power unit failure, which was later determined to be terminal.

“That one is for the bin,” Mercedes’ boss Toto Wolff told a press conference between the first practice sessions at the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka circuit.

“It is a very highly unusual failure that we have a hardware failure that we didn’t see coming before. So yeah, we can’t reuse that.

“And it depends how the season develops, whether we need one more or not. I can’t really say at this stage.”

Hamilton’s teammate George Russell crashed in Melbourne, the first time both the team’s drivers did not finish a race in five years.

Hamilton, who was third in the drivers’ standings behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez in 2023, is languishing in 10th this season.

While it is not that uncommon for drivers to face penalties for exceeding engine quotas, losing one so early in the 24-race calendar is a worrying sign for a team beset with reliability problems in recent seasons.

Wolff also said that “you can never discount” Sebastian Vettel, after the four-time world champion hinted he could return to F1 to replace Hamilton.

Vettel, who retired in 2022, said earlier this week that he had held talks with Wolff, who needs to replace seven-time world champion Hamilton.

Wolff said four-time champion Vettel’s track record was “phenomenal” but stressed that his team have not chosen Hamilton’s successor yet.

“It’s not something that we plan to do in the next few weeks,” he said.

“The driver market is very dynamic.

“Some of the really good guys are about to sign for some of the other teams. We want to continue to have discussions and keep the options open.

“But at this stage it’s much too early to commit to a driver.”

On the track, Verstappen went fastest on April 5 in the first practice for the Japanese Grand Prix, with the second session badly affected by rain.

Triple world champion Verstappen, who failed to finish the race in Australia a fortnight ago, edged out Perez in dry conditions with a time of 1min 30.056sec in the first session in Suzuka.

But it was a different story later in the day when only five drivers recorded a timed lap in on-off showers, with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri going quickest, clocking 1:34.725 to finish 0.501sec clear of Hamilton.

Hamilton, who has had a difficult start to the season, said it was “a great session” for Mercedes.

“It was the best session for us so far this year and the best the car has felt,” he said.

“I felt very positive and excited heading into FP2 as this is a circuit that every driver loves to drive. It was a shame not to get much running in, therefore.”

Verstappen and Perez did not come out for the second practice.

They were among several drivers who stayed in the garage as the teams tried to preserve their tyres in the tricky conditions.

“In FP2 we couldn’t do anything, which was a shame as this means that we don’t know the long-run pace, but we can’t do anything about the weather,” said Verstappen.

“In general, it looks like everyone is a bit closer compared to last year and I don’t expect the same kind of gaps here at this track.”

Verstappen won the first two grands prix of the season but the Dutchman retired from a race for the first time in two years in Melbourne after a brake issue.

Normal service resumed in the first practice, in a session that was red-flagged for around 10 minutes after Williams driver Logan Sargeant crashed into a wall of tyres.

Verstappen’s fastest lap was 0.181sec quicker than the time set by Perez.

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, who won in Australia after returning from appendicitis surgery, was third-fastest at 1:30.269.

Russell was fourth-quickest followed by Hamilton, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc coming home in sixth.

The second session saw very little action until a late flurry of activity.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was third ahead of Visa Cash App RB pair Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo, but no other driver managed to record a timed lap.

“Not a lot going on in FP2 but I was able to get a couple of laps in at the end in tricky conditions,” said Piastri, who finished third at 2023’s race.

“I think it’s been an OK day. It’s difficult to get a good reading on everybody’s pace.” REUTERS, AFP