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Lewis Hamilton is facing a possible penalty after McLaren broke a Formula 1 sporting regulation during the first free practice session at Interlagos.

Hamilton, who stands on the brink of his childhood dream of winning the world championship and takes a four-point lead into Sunday’s season finale in Brazil, used two sets of wet-weather tyres during the 90-minute morning session, contravening Article 25.3 of the F1 sporting regulations.

Article 25.3 states: “No driver may use more than one set of wet and one set of extreme wet tyres during P1 and P2.”

The rule is a new addition to the F1 sporting regulations this year. Hamilton, Honda driver Jenson Button and Super Aguri’s Takuma Sato were all found to have used two sets of wet tyres during Friday’s first session in Brazil.

The imposition of any penalty is at the discretion of the FIA stewards. The fear for Hamilton is that if the stewards deem that he has been unfairly advantaged by the additional track time on wets, they may impose a penalty.

Such a penalty could impact drastically on his chances of clinching the title.

As things stand, if Fernando Alonso were to win the race, Hamilton could win the championship by finishing second.

Alternatively, if Kimi Raikkonen were to win with Alonso second, Hamilton could afford to finish fifth and still win the title on a countback of two fifth places to Alonso’s one.

Given the superiority of McLaren and Ferrari, that would appear to be a straightforward task.

But should Hamilton be hit with a five or 10-place grid penalty, he would have plenty of overtaking to do on Sunday in order to become the sport’s youngest ever champion.

The three drivers concerned have been summoned to see the stewards individually following the afternoon practice session.