The world champion had missed last weekend's race in Bahrain after contracting coronavirus, but was given the all-clear ahead of the F1 season finale in Abu Dhabi.

After getting back up to speed on Friday, Hamilton took third place on the grid, behind pole position man Max Verstappen and Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas.

And although he missed just one race, he says it has been hard to get fully back into the swing of things.

"It's definitely been a difficult weekend I would say, just getting back into rhythm," he said. "Even though it's only a couple weeks off, it just felt like you lost that momentum.

"And I've really struggled so far already with the balance this weekend. But still I gave it my all.

"And, you know, congratulations to Max, it's great way for him to seal the year, a

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