"It is motor racing," laments Lewis Hamilton after qualifying P8 for Brazilian GP Sprint

Lewis Hamilton was not too happy with how the qualifying session went for him at the Brazilian GP on Satuday.

The Mercedes driver was one of many who could not post improvements to their first times, as his teammate George Russell beached his car in the gravel. Because of Russell's crash, no driver could improve their times, as rain made the track conditions worse.

As a result, Hamilton's first lap was what counted, which was only good enough for P8.

After the session, Hamilton said:

"I went out there to see what the conditions were like, but obviously it was properly wet. It is motor racing. It was just difficult to see the conditions, difficult to see the rain drops because it was so dark, and I was the last car out so I think I got the earliest part of the rain and probably lost too much in the tyres in the pitlane. Just a bit unfortunate, but George did a great job, and congratulations to Kevin."

Meanwhile, Mercedes' Andrew Shovlin admitted that it was a tricky session and not as relaxing as the team would have hoped for. He said:

"A tricky qualifying session where each part had its own challenges. It wasn't easy to get a clear lap in, especially at the points when you needed consecutive laps, but we did manage to get through the first two sessions safely although it wasn't as relaxing as we'd have liked. The final session was all about track position; the conditions were deteriorating and, as it turned out, you wanted to be at the front of the group to get the best of the track."

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We have plenty of race laps to recover with Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes

Shovlin said that neither Lewis Hamilton nor George Russell had a great first lap but the key focus would be on helping Hamilton progress through the field. He said:

Neither driver had a great lap in the final session; George was happier with his car than Lewis who was lacking grip on the final run, but we have plenty of racing laps to recover with Lewis and at least he's ahead of both Ferrari and one Red Bull on the grid. The unsettled weather is forecast to continue to that could make for a bit more decision-making during the sprint race than you normally have to do - and that may bring with it more opportunity.

It will be interesting to see how the seven-time world champion approaches the race and where he finishes if everything goes fine.