Lewis Hamilton is expecting a tough Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday as he continues to recover from the effects of Covid-19.

The world champion returned to the track at Yas Marina after missing his first Formula 1 race in 265 starts last weekend in Bahrain following a positive coronavirus test.

On Friday, he compared practice to the "first day back at school" as he got resettled into the car and the various routines, then in qualifying, he would claim third, just 0.086s off the pole time set by Max Verstappen.

And commenting after the session, Hamilton confirmed that while he is fit enough to be back in the car, he's nowhere near his peak.

“I said already back in Australia just how serious the virus is, and 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,” he said.

“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.”

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Looking ahead to 55 laps tomorrow then, Hamilton is simply promising to give it his all.

“It definitely won’t be the easiest of races physically, but I will manage and give it absolutely everything I have,” 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 lost a good amount of weight just in that, 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.”

Hamilton was also minorly hampered by running wide in the penultimate corner in Q1, as his car bounced along the sausage kerb.

“It did have a little bit of damage,” he confirmed. “It’s the first time I’d gone wide there all weekend.

“There’s just a little bit of damage to the floor but I don’t think if that hadn’t have been damaged then I would have got pole. I’m sure it doesn’t help but nonetheless the guys did a good job to get it patched up and they’ll fix it overnight.”