Grid penalty for Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton’s nightmare Japanese Grand Prix weekend hit another trough today when it was confirmed he would receive a five-place grid penalty in tomorrow’s race.

The McLaren driver suffered an oil pressure problem this afternoon which forced his team to change his gearbox, triggering the penalty.

A McLaren spokesperson said: “In third practice today we noticed abnormal gearbox oil pressure on Lewis’ car, which we believed we had corrected ahead of this afternoon’s qualifying session.

“This afternoon, as we fired up Lewis’ car several times in preparation for qualifying, we became aware that the symptoms were worse than we’d originally diagnosed, and a decision was later taken to change the gearbox.

“As a result, Lewis will receive a five-place grid penalty for tomorrow’s race.”

In the event, there was no qualifying hour today as torrential rain forced its postponement until tomorrow morning, robbing Hamilton of yet more track time after losing over two hours of set-up work yesterday after a shunt in opening practice.

The 2008 world champion’s troubled weekend comes as he is bidding to get his championship challenge back on track after failing to finish three of the last four grands prix.

He trails championship leader Mark Webber by 20 points ahead of tomorrow’s race.