Hamilton out of Dutch GP practice as Mercedes suffer second PU issue

Lewis Hamilton managed just five minutes on track in second practice for the Dutch Grand Prix as Mercedes suffered its second power unit issue of the day.

A total of 37 minutes were lost in FP1 when Sebastian Vettel pulled over in his Aston Martin due to a problem with the Mercedes system.

Concerns over the safety of the car led to the lengthier-than-expected hold up before the AMR21 was finally returned to the garage.

In a busy final six minutes when action was allowed to resume, Hamilton went on to set the fastest time ahead of home hero Max Verstappen in his Red Bull.

But on his fourth lap of FP2, as teams and drivers attempted to maximise running given the time lost in the opening session, Hamilton reported a "loss of power".

The seven-time F1 champion was immediately told to stop the car, doing so at the turn-eight Mastersbocht right-hander, to the delight of the thousands of Verstappen fans as the grandstands roared with approval.

Mercedes later reported an abnormal oil pressure problem. The system was also the oldest PU in the pool and will now likely be swapped out for the second, with the newest that was introduced at Spa last weekend saved for power track Monza.

It means across the two hours of practice, Hamilton had only been on track for 28 minutes, managing just 20 laps in total.

On F1's return to Zandvoort for the first time since 1985, it means Hamilton will go into final practice and qualifying on Saturday on the backfoot given his lack of running.

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