Malaysia GP: Lewis Hamilton stops early as Nico Rosberg sets pace

The Mercedes drivers suffered a Practice One of sharply contrasting fortunes at the Malaysia GP as Nico Rosberg set the pace while Lewis Hamilton ran into engine problems inside four laps.

On the morning that McLaren’s Fernando Alonso returned to action for the first time since his still mysterious Barcelona testing crash 33 days ago, world champions Mercedes picked up from where they left off at the Melbourne season-opener as Rosberg set the pace from the Ferraris.

Hamilton, the race winner in Australia, would almost certainly have joined his team-mate at the head of the order but his session was over even before the Briton had a timed lap on the board when he was told to pull off the circuit after reporting hearing a “click” at the rear of his W06.

Mercedes had sent the Briton’s car out for its early laps without the use of telemetry after problems in the garage and duly asked Hamilton to stop as a precaution. After subsequently conducting an investigation when the W06 was returned to the garage, the world champions confirmed that an engine problem had struck.

Mercedes confirmed after the session that the power unit's inlet system had failed, but that the problem wouldn't result in the loss of the engine and leave Hamilton with just three penalty-free units to complete the season. Paddy Lowe, Mercedes' Executive Director, told Sky F1 that the engine would "not necessarily" have to be changed for P2.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Hamilton was therefore sidelined for the remainder of an opening session which ended with Ferrari coming on strong in the closing stages at a typically sweltering Sepang as Kimi Raikkonen lapped within 0.3s of Rosberg at the head of the order. Team-mate Sebastian Vettel was four tenths further back in third place.

After their early double retirement in Melbourne, Lotus enjoyed an early boost here as Romain Grosjean finished fourth, ahead of the respective Renault-engined Toro Rosso and Red Bull of Carlos Sainz and Daniel Ricciardo.

At the start of the session all eyes had been on Fernando Alonso as the Spaniard returned to the track in the McLaren-Honda for the first time since his Barcelona testing crash on the final day of the second winter test.

As promised by the man himself, the former world champion showed no ill effects from the accident as he put 20 laps on the board to finish as the faster of the two McLaren drivers. However, that was still only good enough for 14th place on the times as the MP4-30 lapped 2.7 seconds off the leading pace - although that was a smaller deficit than in Melbourne.

On a morning of welcome returns, Valtteri Bottas was also back in his Williams after being sidelined from race day in Melbourne, while at the second attempt Manor's cars finally turned their first wheels of 2015.

New signings Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi were over six-and-a-half seconds off the pace but the 16 laps they completed between them in P1 will give the team valuable data as they continue their recovery after coming out of administration last month.

2015 Malaysia GP Practice One timesheet:

1) Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1:40.124

2) Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1:40.497

3) Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1:40.985

4) Romain Grosjean, Lotus, 1:41.543

5) Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso, 1:41.596

6) Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, 1:41.787

7) Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso, 1:41.803

8) Valtteri Bottas, Williams, 1:41.882

9) Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull, 1:42.055

10) Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, 1:42.064

11) Felipe Massa, Williams, 1:42.103

12) Pastor Maldonado, Lotus, 1:42.567

13) Raffaele Marciello, Sauber, 1:42.621

14) Fernando Alonso, McLaren, 1:42.885

15) Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, 1:42.893

16) Sergio Perez, Force India, 1:43.054

17) Jenson Button, McLaren, 1:43.100

18) Will Stevens, Manor, 1:46.686

19) Roberto Merhi, Manor, 1:47.683

20) Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, No time

Live Formula 1