The world champion only got the green light to race in Abu Dhabi on Thursday afternoon, after a number of successful negative tests for coronavirus.

But he wasted little time in getting up to speed on his comeback, and ended Friday’s second practice session at the Yas Marina circuit just behind his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas.

Speaking for the first time since he came back to the paddock, Hamilton told Sky : “I was very, very happy and grateful this morning, just to be back here. And, obviously to be able to try and finish off the season strong, I was super excited.

“It felt like a first day back to school kind of thing. So it definitely took a minute to get back used to it for the first session, and then the second one, I think [I was] still getting my bearings, but not too

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