Lewis Hamilton whose pace looked off whole weekend, excited his fans with a phenomenal lap during the second runs of Q3, but the joy was short lived and it was beaten as his team-mate crossed the start/finish line and pipped him to second and adding more grief Max Verstappen went onto to score his first pole position of the season, pushing the seven times world champion, even further to third place on the grid.

According to the reigning world champion it had been a difficult weekend so far and getting back into the groove wasn’t easy for him. But his team Mercedes Amg Petronas was right the side of him and helped him.

“It’s definitely been a difficult weekend, getting back into the rhythm and finding the momentum again but I’m super grateful to be back with the team and trying to close out the strong season that we’ve had, in style.”

I wasn’t sure I’d be here this weekend. I focused on healing my body as fast as I could and feel so grateful to have made it. @Max33Verstappen did a great job, as did @ValtteriBottas, and it’s great to see McLaren so close. I will give it my all tomorrow 🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/V6FCNAsM1Z

— Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) December 12, 2020

In post Qualifying media debrief Lewis Hamilton said he struggled with the balance a lot and car just didn’t feel the same for him as he left it two weeks ago at Bahrain GP.

“I’ve struggled with the balance of the car and we weren’t really gelling together, so it was a battle to get a lap together in qualifying. I still gave it my all and it was so close between us.”

Moreover, Mercedes driver was disappointed with the result as it was close between the top three driver and he came out the last. But he hopes to challenge Max and Bottas in the race and hope to end this phenomenal season with the victory.

“Obviously, it’s disappointing to be P3, but congratulations to Max, he’s been driving great this year.”

“Hopefully we’ll give Max a good run for his money tomorrow, with both Valtteri and myself starting right behind him.”

Lewis Hamilton thinks that teams are in bit of unknown regarding the long runs and how the tyres will behave. But as we all know Yas Marina is one the toughest circuit to overtake and world champion is of the same mind and thinks it will be difficult to overtake during the race and Lewis is counting on the strategy.

“It makes it more exciting, that’s for sure, and there’s still some unknowns with the long runs.”

“This is a tough track to overtake on but there’s still strategy to play with, and the start and first few laps are going to be important. So, there are opportunities and I’m excited to see how it’ll play out.”