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Lewis Hamilton described having coronavirus as “an experience” after he returned to his Mercedes car at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Hamilton missed last weekend’s race in Bahrain after contracting Covid-19, but tested negative on Wednesday in time to race at Yas Marina.
“It’s not something I really want to delve into,” said the world champion. “It was an experience, for sure.
“I am happy to be back and grateful to be back with the team.”
Hamilton’s teammate Valtteri Bottas, who was fastest in the second practice session on Friday, said: “It’s good to see him healthy and back. You don’t want anyone to have that virus and apparently it wasn’t that mild.”
Hamilton said he had “missed doing what I love” and had seen “part” of the Sakhir Grand Prix, in which his understudy George Russell starred in the Mercedes and was only deprived of a debut win by one stop. pit confusion and puncture.
Hamilton said it had taken him much of the day to get comfortable in the car again.
“It took a good session and a half to get the flow back even though it was such a short time without being in the car,” said the seven-time champion. “But we fulfilled all the necessary program and [will] work hard tonight for tomorrow.
“The car was not exactly as it was when I left it. The balance was not the same, but I am working to get back to where I feel comfortable.”
Hamilton finished the day 0.203 seconds slower than Bottas, as both Mercedes drivers unusually set their fastest lap times on the medium tire compound.
Unlike Bottas, Hamilton did a quicker lap on the soft, which should have a better pace in one lap, but was cut off time for exceeding the limits of the track in the last corner.
That time was 0.2 seconds faster than the mark that set Bottas’s pace. He was the same margin ahead of Bottas on average in his race sim races later in the session, for which both Mercedes drivers used the Pirelli-supplied 2021 test tire.
Red Bulls Max Verstappen was third fastest, his fastest time also set on the medium tire.
Verstappen was blocked on his lap on soft tires by Racing Point driver Sergio Perez and said the tire was “fine for me”.
But Bottas said he had struggled to make the soft work work effectively.
“The soft one was tough,” said the Finn. “I didn’t really put them in the window on the first lap and then on the second lap they overheated enormously. The middle felt like the best tire, which it shouldn’t be.”
Behind the top three regulars, Red Bull’s Alexander Albon was fourth fastest ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris.
Drivers from sixth to ninth, Renault’s Esteban Ocon, Racing Point’s Pérez, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo, were separated by just 0.003 seconds.
Ocon was 0.001 seconds faster than Pérez, who was 0.002 seconds ahead of Leclerc and Ricciardo, who clocked exactly the same time.
The lack of pace on the soft tire suggests that the best teams may be even more determined than in recent races to try to get through the second qualifying session in the middle in order to start the race on it.
Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen suffered a major engine fire that raised the red flag for a few minutes in the middle of races.
And both Pérez and Kevin Magnussen will have to start from the back of the grid on their Racing Point and Haas cars after exceeding the allowed number of engine parts for the season.
Russell, who had driven on media day Thursday as a Mercedes driver before Hamilton was officially cleared to race, was 18th fastest on his return to Williams.
He had a problem with his MGU-K, part of the hybrid engine system, and missed the last part of the session.
