The faulty engine which robbed Lewis Hamilton of victory on Sunday has arrived back in England as Mercedes desperately attempt to resolve the mechanical problems which have derailed his title defence.

Hamilton, who is currently in Tokyo ahead of this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix, was on course to win in Malaysia and take back control of the championship before his engine blew up with only 15 laps remaining.

Hamilton’s latest setback in the Formula One World Championship marked the third time his grand prix weekend has been scuppered by an engine problem this year, while Nico Rosberg, his Mercedes team-mate and sole title rival whom he now trails by 23 points, is yet to encounter any major mechanical dramas.

The engine was sent on the near-7,000-mile trip from Kuala Lumpur to Mercedes’s headquarters in Brixworth overnight on Monday where it will now undergo a thorough analysis.

Mercedes have so far been unable to understand why Hamilton’s engines keep failing.

The Briton, 31, even suggested that he would consider skipping some practice sessions at the remaining five rounds in the hope of avoiding any further problems.

“Missing a practice session is harming his weekend overall so we want to come to a race and have a more reliable situation,” Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said.

“We will leave no stone unturned to check the engines for the next races. We are forensic. Whatever needs to be done will be done.

“There is no explanation. It’s a freaky situation that has no rational explanation.”

Statistics for Japanese Grand Prix

Lap distance: 5.807 kilometres.
Total distance: 307.471km (53 laps).
Race lap record: One minute 31.540 seconds – Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) McLaren, 2005.
2015 pole: Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes 1:32.584.
2015 race winner: Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes.
Start time: 7am (Malta time).

Pole position

■ Mercedes have been on pole position in 51 of the last 54 races and all but one of this season’s grands prix.

■ Hamilton has 57 career poles and is third on the all-time list behind Michael Schumacher (68) and Ayrton Senna (65). Sebastian Vettel has 46 and Nico Rosberg 29.

Points

■ Sauber (Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr) are the only team yet to score a point in this year’s World Championship.

■ Haas’s Esteban Gutierrez and Manor’s Esteban Ocon have yet to open their accounts.

■ Renault’s Jolyon Palmer scored the first point of his Formula One career with 10th place in Malaysia last weekend.

■ Daniel Ricciardo is the only driver to have finished every race this season.

Race at Suzuka

■ Hamilton has won the last two races at Suzuka and can become the first to take three in a row there since Michael Schumacher in 2002.

■ Ferrari have not won a Grand Prix in Suzuka since Schumacher’s last Japanese success in 2004.

■ Vettel has been on pole and won four of the last seven Japanese Grands Prix, all with Red Bull. Only Schumacher (six times) has won more Japanese GPs.

■ Hamilton (2007, 2014, 2015), Alonso (2006 and 2008), Button (2011) and Raikkonen (2005) are all past winners in Japan.

■ In 27 races at Suzuka, the winner has come from the front row on 23 occasions and been on pole in 12. Raikkonen is the standout exception, winning from 17th on the grid in 2005.

■ Five of the last 11 winners have started from  pole position.

■ There have been 31 Japanese Grands Prix since 1976, four of them at Fuji.

Milestones

■ Mercedes can win the constructors’ title on Sunday for the third year in a row.

■ Hamilton can become only the third driver to win 50 races and is also poised to take his 100th podium.

■ Red Bull’s one-two in Malaysia was their first since 2013 and made the team only the second after Mercedes in the V6 era to pull off the feat.