He had completed just 18 laps in laps in nearly four hours of running this
morning, with only a handful of cars leaving the pit lane to complete
installation laps or system checks.
Mercedes boss Toto Wollf said it “looks like” the end of the day’s running for
the 29-year-old.
Red
Bull, the reigning world champions, have not yet sent a car out on
track after a “silly problem overnight”, according to technical boss Adrian
Newey.
Ferrari’s
Kimi Raikkonen and Force India’s Sergio Perez also stopped on track during
their installation runs.
McLaren, Williams and Caterham have also yet to run their 2014 cars. Lotus
will not be coming to Jerez, while Max Chilton’s Marussia team are still
shipping their car out to southern Spain from their base in Brackley,
Oxfordshire.
Meanwhile, the four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel, who is yet to do any
running, said he was praying for “a miracle” for Michael Schumacher, who
remains in a medically-induced coma after a skiing accident in the French
Alps on December 29.
“When I heard the news I was shocked”, Vettel said. “I have known
him a long time and always looked up to him. When he came back, we spoke
quite a lot of the time.
“It is still in a coma and we don’t know what shape he will be in when he does
wake up, which is horrible for his family and friends.
“I am still as shocked as everybody else a pray that he will come back and a
miracle will happen and he will be the same person as he was before.”