Lewis Hamilton bows out of tire test to be with ailing dog

Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton withdrew from the Pirelli tire test on Friday after his dog entered a coma.

Hamilton was slated to participate in the test before opting to bow out in order to be with Roscoe, his 12-year-old English bulldog.

"Please keep Roscoe in your thoughts," Hamilton wrote on Instagram. "I want to keep you all updated.

"Roscoe caught pneumonia again and was struggling to breathe. He was admitted into hospital and sedated to calm him while they did checks on him and during the process his heart stopped.

"They managed to get a heartbeat back and now he's in a coma. We don't know whether he will wake from this. Tomorrow we'll try to wake him up. I'm by his side and want to thank you all for your prayers and support."

Like Hamilton, Roscoe has quite the following. The four-legged creature has 1.3 million followers on Instagram.

Reserve driver Guanyu Zhou stood in for Hamilton's responsibilities at the Mugello circuit in Italy.

--Field Level Media