Mercedes’ early-season struggles continued on Friday at the Japanese Grand Prix as team principal Toto Wolff alluded to Lewis Hamilton losing one of his four allotted engines, meaning the seven-time world champion could face grid penalties later in the season.

“That one is for the bin,” Wolff told a press conference between the first practice sessions at Suzuka circuit.

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

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

He was fifth in the first practice session at Suzuka, around half a second behind pacesetter Verstappen.

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.