Lewis Hamilton faced the wrath of Formula One's new owners after he was ordered to delete a video posted to his Instagram account.

Hamilton, who has more than four million followers on the social network - comfortably more than any driver in the sport - uploaded on-board footage of his pole position lap at the Chinese Grand Prix earlier this month.

American company Liberty Media have made the expansion of F1 on social media one of their main priorities since their £6.4billion purchase from private equity firm CVC Capital Partners in January.

But Hamilton, second behind Sebastian Vettel in the championship after he trailed the Ferrari driver in Bahrain on Sunday, was told to take down the video after breaching the sport's strict guidelines.

Hamilton did not realise he was in infringement of the rules and removed the post as soon as he was asked.

"This season, Formula One has issued a new set of social media guidelines allowing teams and drivers to film and record their activities so as to bring the sport closer to the fans," a spokesperson for Liberty Media said.

"All teams and drivers have embraced this approach with enthusiasm, resulting in a surge of interest in F1 across social media.

Formula One Team Drivers & Cars 2017 - In pictures 34 show all Formula One Team Drivers & Cars 2017 - In pictures 1/34 Ferrari Kimi Raikkonen of Finland driving the (7) Scuderia Ferrari SF70H Mark Thompson/Getty Images 2/34 Ferrari Sebastian Vettel of Germany and Scuderia Ferrari Clive Mason/Getty Images 3/34 Ferrari Kimi Raikkonen of Finland and Scuderia Ferrari Robert Cianflone/Getty Images 4/34 Ferrari Finnish Formula One driver Kimi Raikkonen of Scuderia Ferrari Diego Azubel/EPA 5/34 Red Bull Daniel Ricciardo of Australia driving the (3) Red Bull Racing Red Bull-TAG Heuer RB13 TAG Heuer on track Mark Thompson/Getty Images 6/34 Red Bull Daniel Ricciardo of Australia and Max Verstappen of Netherlands and Red Bull Racing Mark Thompson/Getty Images 7/34 Red Bull Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (33) Red Bull Racing Red Bull-TAG Heuer RB13 TAG Heuer on track Clive Mason/Getty Images 8/34 Mercedes Geat Britain's Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes GP powers through a corner Paul Crock/AFP/Getty Images 9/34 Mercedes Geat Britain's Lewis Hamilton and Finland's Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes GP pose during the launch of the Mercedes formula one team's 2017 W08 car at Silverstone Circuit Mark Thompson/Getty Images 10/34 Mercedes Geat Britain's Lewis Hamilton and Finland's Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes GP Mark Thompson/Getty Images 11/34 Mercedes Mercedes' Finnish driver Valtteri Bottas Josep Lago/AFP/Getty Images 12/34 Renault Jolyon Palmer and Nico Hulkenberg during the Renault RS17 Car Launch at Lindley Hall, London Nick Ansell/PA 13/34 Renault Renault's German driver Nico Hulkenberg drives at the Circuit de Catalunya Luis Gene/AFP/Getty Images 14/34 Renault Renault Sport Formula One drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Jolyon Palmer pose during a launch event at the Royal Horticultural Halls in central London Niklas Halle'n/AFP/Getty Images 15/34 Renault British Formula One driver Jolyon Palmer of Renault steers his car Srdkan Suki/EPA 16/34 Sahara Force India Esteban Ocon of France and Sahara Force India and Sergio Perez of Mexico and Sahara Force India pose after unveiling the VJM10 car during the Sahara Force India Formula One team launch at Silverstone Sahara Force India via Getty Images 17/34 Sahara Force India Sergio Perez of Mexico driving the (11) Sahara Force India F1 Team VJM10 on track Robert Cianflone/Getty Images 18/34 Sahara Force India French Formula One driver Esteban Ocon of Sahara Force India F1 Team steers his car Srdjan Suki/EPA 19/34 Williams Williams Martini Racing driver Lance Stroll and Felipe Massa Tracey Nearmy/EPA 20/34 Williams Canadian formula one driver Lance Stroll of team Williams Martini Racing in action Tracey Nearmy/EPA 21/34 Williams Williams driver Felipe Massa of Brazil steers his car Rick Rycroft/AP 22/34 McLaren Fernando Alonso of Spain and McLaren Honda Mark Thompson/Getty Images 23/34 McLaren Fernando Alonso of Spain driving the (14) McLaren Honda Formula 1 Team McLaren MCL32 on track Robert Cianflone/Getty Images 24/34 McLaren Stoffel Vandoorne of Belgium and McLaren Honda Mark Thompson/Getty Images 25/34 McLaren Stoffel Vandoorne of Belgium driving the (2) McLaren Honda Formula 1 Team McLaren MCL32 on track Robert Cianflone/Getty Images 26/34 Toro Rosso Carlos Sainz of Spain and Scuderia Toro Rosso and Daniil Kvyat of Russia and Scuderia Toro Rosso Clive Mason/Getty Images 27/34 Toro Rosso Daniil Kvyat of Russia driving the (26) Scuderia Toro Rosso STR12 on track Clive Mason/Getty Images 28/34 Toro Rosso Carlos Sainz of Spain driving the (55) Scuderia Toro Rosso STR12 on track Robert Cianflone/Getty Images 29/34 Haas Romain Grosjean of France driving the (8) Haas F1 Team Haas-Ferrari VF-17 Ferrari on track Mark Thompson/Getty Images 30/34 Haas HAAS F1 Team's Danish driver Kevin Magnussen (L) and HAAS F1 Team's French driver Romain Grosjean pose by their new VF17 car Jordan Jordan/AFP/Getty Images 31/34 Sauber Pascal Wehrlein of Germany driving the (94) Sauber F1 Team Sauber C36 Ferrari on track Getty Images 32/34 Sauber Pascal Wehrlein of Germany and Sauber F1 Getty Images 33/34 Sauber Marcus Ericsson of Sweden and Sauber F1 Mark Thompson/Getty Images 34/34 Sauber Swedish formula one driver Marcus Ericsson of team Sauber in action Tracey Nearmy/EPA 1/34 Ferrari Kimi Raikkonen of Finland driving the (7) Scuderia Ferrari SF70H Mark Thompson/Getty Images 2/34 Ferrari Sebastian Vettel of Germany and Scuderia Ferrari Clive Mason/Getty Images 3/34 Ferrari Kimi Raikkonen of Finland and Scuderia Ferrari Robert Cianflone/Getty Images 4/34 Ferrari Finnish Formula One driver Kimi Raikkonen of Scuderia Ferrari Diego Azubel/EPA 5/34 Red Bull Daniel Ricciardo of Australia driving the (3) Red Bull Racing Red Bull-TAG Heuer RB13 TAG Heuer on track Mark Thompson/Getty Images 6/34 Red Bull Daniel Ricciardo of Australia and Max Verstappen of Netherlands and Red Bull Racing Mark Thompson/Getty Images 7/34 Red Bull Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (33) Red Bull Racing Red Bull-TAG Heuer RB13 TAG Heuer on track Clive Mason/Getty Images 8/34 Mercedes Geat Britain's Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes GP powers through a corner Paul Crock/AFP/Getty Images 9/34 Mercedes Geat Britain's Lewis Hamilton and Finland's Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes GP pose during the launch of the Mercedes formula one team's 2017 W08 car at Silverstone Circuit Mark Thompson/Getty Images 10/34 Mercedes Geat Britain's Lewis Hamilton and Finland's Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes GP Mark Thompson/Getty Images 11/34 Mercedes Mercedes' Finnish driver Valtteri Bottas Josep Lago/AFP/Getty Images 12/34 Renault Jolyon Palmer and Nico Hulkenberg during the Renault RS17 Car Launch at Lindley Hall, London Nick Ansell/PA 13/34 Renault Renault's German driver Nico Hulkenberg drives at the Circuit de Catalunya Luis Gene/AFP/Getty Images 14/34 Renault Renault Sport Formula One drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Jolyon Palmer pose during a launch event at the Royal Horticultural Halls in central London Niklas Halle'n/AFP/Getty Images 15/34 Renault British Formula One driver Jolyon Palmer of Renault steers his car Srdkan Suki/EPA 16/34 Sahara Force India Esteban Ocon of France and Sahara Force India and Sergio Perez of Mexico and Sahara Force India pose after unveiling the VJM10 car during the Sahara Force India Formula One team launch at Silverstone Sahara Force India via Getty Images 17/34 Sahara Force India Sergio Perez of Mexico driving the (11) Sahara Force India F1 Team VJM10 on track Robert Cianflone/Getty Images 18/34 Sahara Force India French Formula One driver Esteban Ocon of Sahara Force India F1 Team steers his car Srdjan Suki/EPA 19/34 Williams Williams Martini Racing driver Lance Stroll and Felipe Massa Tracey Nearmy/EPA 20/34 Williams Canadian formula one driver Lance Stroll of team Williams Martini Racing in action Tracey Nearmy/EPA 21/34 Williams Williams driver Felipe Massa of Brazil steers his car Rick Rycroft/AP 22/34 McLaren Fernando Alonso of Spain and McLaren Honda Mark Thompson/Getty Images 23/34 McLaren Fernando Alonso of Spain driving the (14) McLaren Honda Formula 1 Team McLaren MCL32 on track Robert Cianflone/Getty Images 24/34 McLaren Stoffel Vandoorne of Belgium and McLaren Honda Mark Thompson/Getty Images 25/34 McLaren Stoffel Vandoorne of Belgium driving the (2) McLaren Honda Formula 1 Team McLaren MCL32 on track Robert Cianflone/Getty Images 26/34 Toro Rosso Carlos Sainz of Spain and Scuderia Toro Rosso and Daniil Kvyat of Russia and Scuderia Toro Rosso Clive Mason/Getty Images 27/34 Toro Rosso Daniil Kvyat of Russia driving the (26) Scuderia Toro Rosso STR12 on track Clive Mason/Getty Images 28/34 Toro Rosso Carlos Sainz of Spain driving the (55) Scuderia Toro Rosso STR12 on track Robert Cianflone/Getty Images 29/34 Haas Romain Grosjean of France driving the (8) Haas F1 Team Haas-Ferrari VF-17 Ferrari on track Mark Thompson/Getty Images 30/34 Haas HAAS F1 Team's Danish driver Kevin Magnussen (L) and HAAS F1 Team's French driver Romain Grosjean pose by their new VF17 car Jordan Jordan/AFP/Getty Images 31/34 Sauber Pascal Wehrlein of Germany driving the (94) Sauber F1 Team Sauber C36 Ferrari on track Getty Images 32/34 Sauber Pascal Wehrlein of Germany and Sauber F1 Getty Images 33/34 Sauber Marcus Ericsson of Sweden and Sauber F1 Mark Thompson/Getty Images 34/34 Sauber Swedish formula one driver Marcus Ericsson of team Sauber in action Tracey Nearmy/EPA

"However, F1 does not want drivers posting international feed footage as this has been licensed to broadcasters' partners, in many cases exclusively.

"All teams and drivers have a clear understating of this and whenever a mistake is made, teams and drivers are asked to take down any relevant footage."

It is not the first time Hamilton, 32, has been in hot water for footage posted to social media. In the summer of 2015 he faced criticism for uploading a video at a Colorado shooting range on the same day a gunman attacked a train in France.

And on the eve of last season he was investigated by New Zealand police for posting a video while he was riding a motor bike. Both were taken down.

Hamilton is seven points behind Vettel after the opening three rounds of the new season. The next race takes place in Russia a week on Sunday.