Hamilton runs into trouble

LEWIS Hamilton’s preparations for a historic eighth world championship have been dealt a blow after his Mercedes team ran into significant trouble on the first day of Formula One testing in Bahrain.

With only three days of pre-season action – down from as many as eight in recent years – the grid is in a race against time to fine tune their machines for the new campaign.

But Hamilton’s Mercedes completed the fewest laps in Sakhir yesterday after they were sidelined for the majority of the four-hour morning session with a gearbox failure.

Valtteri Bottas eventually emerged from the Mercedes garage with 35 minutes remaining before lunch and managed just six laps.

Hamilton took over the Mercedes driving duties in the afternoon, notching up an additional 42 laps for the world champions, but his running was then disrupted by a sandstorm in the desert which affected visibility.

The Briton, battling for grip, also ran off the circuit on a number of occasions.

The reigning champion finished 10th, 2.238 seconds adrift of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who set the fastest time of the day, while completing more miles – a staggering 139 laps – than any other driver.

Hamilton, who won 11 of last season’s 17 races as he equalled Michael Schumacher’s record of seven titles, will be back in the Mercedes cockpit today.

But team principal Toto Wolff admitted the Silver Arrows can ill-afford any further setbacks ahead of the new campaign which gets under way in the Gulf Kingdom on March 28.

Lewis Hamilton.