Hamilton hit by technical glitch

In the first practice session ahead of Sunday's French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours, Hamilton had yet to complete a timed lap when the 22-year-old pulled off the circuit at the Adelaide Hairpin.

With Hamilton on a third installation lap, the engine protection system kicked in as the Mercedes unit was running too cool - but the current World Championship leader was back on track 30 minutes later.

A Mercedes spokesman said: "We changed the temperature level to run higher. Everything is okay now."

Hamilton - whose only other previous problem this year was when he ran into a barrier at Monaco - was forced to settle for the sixth fastest time of the 90-minute session.

The Ferrari duo of Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa suggested the Maranello marque are ready to challenge McLaren's domination.

The Woking team have finished one-two in the last three grands prix to open up a 35-point lead on Ferrari in the constructors' championship.

But after a positive test at Silverstone last week, Ferrari may have found more speed to combat Hamilton and team-mate Fernando Alonso.

Raikkonen was quickest with a lap of one minute 15.382 seconds, faster than Michael Schumacher's pole time of a year ago.

Massa was just 0.065secs adrift, with Alonso over seven tenths of a second down in third.