Hamilton pinpoints what he needs from Mercedes F1 car 

The seven-time world champion ended up three-tenths adrift of pole-sitter Lando Norris as he could only qualify fifth for Saturday’s sprint race in Brazil. 

Hamilton, who also qualified fifth for Sunday’s grand prix, was outpaced by Mercedes teammate George Russell who claimed a spot on the second row in fourth. 

“[This] is generally the pace our car has been for quite some time,” Hamilton said. “It’s our normal average scoring position – always pushing for more.

“My last lap wasn’t really that spectacular, I think I probably could’ve been one or two places further forwards but I gave it my best.”

Hamilton added: “Maximising the time on each of the tyres is always a challenge; getting the right temperatures etc… I think I did, just had a bit of snap at the last corner and lost a tenth and a half.

“The car needs to be easier to drive, which it’s not.”

Russell said he is looking to challenge the front-runners in the sprint race. 

"We’d like to stand here and say we made some gains, but the truth is that conditions play a huge role,” he said. 

"Sometimes it comes into your window, sometimes it goes away, and it just worked in Q3. The lap was good, it was clean. P4 – I think that’s where we expected we’d be.

"Excited for this afternoon. I trust our race pace is going to be better than our qualy pace. I’m sure Max is going to be quickest. The Ferraris are behind us, which is good news, and then eyes forward on Lando."