Sebastian Vettel ended up inside the top three in both free practice sessions at the Sochi Autodrom on Friday, but found his second session ended early when his Scuderia Ferrari SF16-H ground to a halt on the start/finish straight.
The German finished third fastest in first practice, before finishing second behind pacesetter Lewis Hamilton in the second session, but Vettel was disappointed to end his afternoon early with the issue.
Vettel admits he will need to look at the data acquired by team-mate Kimi Raikkonen for the long runs after missing out on valuable track time to do his own extended running.
“Looks like we had an electric problem, but I am sure we can fix it,” said Vettel. “Still, it is a shame, because now we are lacking some laps, especially in the long runs on race trims, which would have allowed us to see how competitive we are.
“But Kimi did the homework for the team, so it is not too bad. Also, here in Russia we know roughly what to expect. I think we can still learn a lot from what other people did.
“In Qualifying trim we still have some stuff to improve. I think the car was getting better though. The track was quite dirty in the morning and then during the day it came more towards us.
“I felt happier as the day continued, it’s true that for the race we are lacking a bit of information, but we will see tomorrow morning, when we have another practice session.”
