SAN FRANCISCO, December 12, (THEWILL) – British race driving ace Lewis Hamilton admitted to not feeling at his best on his return to his position at Mercedes.
It was “not the usual me” he said after narrowly losing out to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and team-mate Valtteri Bottas in the battle for Abu Dhabi Grand Prix pole position, as he “struggled” with his Mercedes car in qualifying on his return from coronavirus.
The Brit will start from third on the grid behind two of his perennial rivals for Sunday’s 2020 finale after an incredibly-close final battle for pole position in Q3. Polesitter Verstappen, who claimed Red Bull’s first Saturday success of the year, second-placed Bottas and third-placed Hamilton were separated by less than a tenth of a second.
Record-breaking, seven-time champion Hamilton returned to his Mercedes car on Friday after missing last week’s Sakhir GP due to Covid-19. After his third-place qualifying race, Hamilton said he was “not 100 per cent” fit yet compared to when he last raced two weeks ago in Bahrain’s first race. But, he promised to give it his all on Sunday.
“Today was definitely hard. Actually, I think yesterday and today have both been a couple of the hardest days I’ve had probably in the car this year.”
“I gave it everything I could, it was just not the perfect laps and not the usual me.
“I struggled with the car but I gave it everything I’ve got and it’s close between us all. It’s not miles of at least. I know there’s work to do tomorrow and there’s lots of opportunity.”
Speaking in the post-qualifying press conference, the 35-year-old confessed that he was still feeling the after-effects of Covid-19.
“I am not 100 per cent, I still have some feeling within my lungs,” said the world champion.
“Normally, I would drive even if one of my arms was hanging off. That’s what we do as racing drivers and luckily that’s not the case.”
Hamilton’s positive test on November 30, the day after winning the Bahrain GP, forced him to spend 10 days in isolation in his hotel room, a period which ended on Thursday. He first posted a negative test in Bahrain on Wednesday.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
