The seven-tim♌e world champion was uncharacteristically off the pace throughout Friday practice but turned things around in qualifying to fly to a commanding fourth pole of the season at Los𝔍ail. 

Hamilton was 0.455s clear of title rival Max Verstappen, who holds a 14-poi🍃nt advantage in the championship heading into the final three races. 

Speaking in parc ferme after qualifying, Hamilton reveale❀d he had been feeling unwell since he arrived in Qatar. 

"Yesterday was a really d🎶ifficult day for me actually, Th🍸ursday and Friday wasn't feeling too well," Hamilton explained. 

"A൲nd so re🐻ally struggled through throughout practice and I was just off [the pace] yesterday, so really had to dig deep. 

"I was here until midnight last night working with the engineers🍸, who also always work so late, they're such hard workers, and found a lot of areas which I could improve.

"Made a lot of changes for P3 an🍃d it seemed to work. Then of course you've got to carry that through𒀰 to qualifying, but I'm so grateful for the timings they put us out on track, we didn't have any traffic and then that last lap was beautiful. It was a really sweet lap.”

Asked what exactly was wrong, Hamilton said: "I had a bit 🐷of a stomach ache from Wednesday but felt fantastic today. I slept well last night so that makes a big 🅠difference.

“Thi✤s track is amazing to drive, incredibly fast on medium and high-speed corners. But it felt good.”