The surgery partly worked, as Russell underlined by registering the fourth fastest time of the afternoon. I am still struggling with the car and qualifying wasn’t great for me. Asked if the upgrades put him back in the championship mix, Hamilton said: ‘I am not really putting my mind to that because I am still way off.’. He is 68 points behind leader Leclerc, and, perhaps even more painfully, 23 adrift of Russell. Of the changes to the car — a revised floor and new front wing — Hamilton was still cautiously optimistic. It should be noted in Hamilton’s defence that he has endured moments of ill-luck when safety cars favoured Russell in Melbourne and Miami.

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