Lewis Hamilton has admitted he is still not feeling 100-percent fit after recovering from COVID-19 in the past week to take part in this weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Hamilton qualified third on the grid on Saturday, just 0.086s off Max Verstappen on pole position, but said he was not operating on the same level he had been at his last race before contracting the virus two weeks ago.
“I think it’s overall energy [I’m lacking],” he said. “One of the symptoms is that it really drains you. So I’ve been trying to sleep as much as I can but recharging is not as easy as it has been in the past.
“I’ve lost a good amount of weight just in that week, so I’m not 100 percent the same as I was the last time I raced, but it’s by no means going to get in the way of me coming out and giving it my all tomorrow [in the race].”
Hamilton tested positive for COVID the Monday after his Bahrain Grand Prix victory on Nov. 29. He spent 10 days in isolation in Bahrain before testing negative on Wednesday this week and travelling to Abu Dhabi on Thursday, where he tested negative twice more before taking part in Friday practice.
“I don’t want to necessarily want to go into too much detail of it all but like I said already back [at the cancelled opening round of the season] in Australia [in March], I know just how serious the virus is. I can really feel for those who have suffered from it and those who have lost ones from it, I can understand how because it’s a nasty virus.
“I’m not 100 percent. I still have some feeling within my lungs but nonetheless, normally I would drive if one of my arms was hanging off.
“That’s what we do as racing drivers and luckily that’s not the case.
“It definitely won’t be the easiest of races physically but I will manage and give it absolutely everything I have.”
Hamilton won this year’s drivers’ championship in November at the Turkish Grand Prix, meaning his missed round and the result of this weekend’s race will have no impact on his seventh world title.