Lewis Hamilton vents fury after qualifying disaster at F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - 'I don't have any answers'

Hamilton struggled for pace during qualifying on Saturday and ended up in 11th, with Russell dropping his team-mate into the elimination zone.

It means the five-time Abu Dhabi GP winner will have his work cut out trying to reel in the rest of the grid at the main event on Sunday, especially with fierce rival Max Verstappen going on to claim pole.

And Hamilton has now reacted furiously, admitting his display was 'not great' and that he had no answers for the performance of his car.

"Not great. Just struggling with balance. I don't have any answers," said the 38-year-old.

"Honestly, at this point it is what it is. We set our cars up the same but they don't read the same.

"There's something not right on our side.

"I'm sure we will dive into it but all weekend we have struggled with the car.

"Two 11ths...it takes some good going for me not to get into Q3, so I will try and move my way up tomorrow."

While it was a difficult day for Hamilton, it was yet another successful outing for Verstappen.

The Red Bull star has now secured a stunning 12th pole of the season as he looks to end the campaign on a high

Reacting to the qualifying session, Verstappen said: “The whole weekend so far has been a bit of a struggle but we definitely improved the car for qualifying.

"From Lap One it all seemed a bit more together and we could definitely push more so yes very happy to be on pole.

“Around here already on the tyres you have little slides, it can cost you a lot of lap time and that is what was happening in practice but then in qualifying it all was a bit more connected."

On his last race of the season, he continued: “Let’s see I have no clue how good we are going to be in the race, we are usually quite decent but yeah it's been a very special season and we've been enjoying it a lot and very proud of what we have achieved so far this year."

Russell, meanwhile, admitted he had 'mixed feelings' after qualifying fourth for Sunday's main event.

"Mixed feelings right now, definitely would of taking P4 ahead of the weekend, but after this morning’s performance, we were quickest every single lap, we only improved six tenths from practice to qualifying," he said.

"Considering it’s much colder, we had much less fuel in the car, we didn’t make the jump we should have, that was a little bit disappointing.

“Of course we have to fight with Ferrari for the constructors, but just going to treat it like any other race.

"I want to fight for the podium, I want to finish the season on a high.

"Obviously with Carlos down on P16 they are in a tricky position, but as I said treat it like a normal race and I think we’ll have good pace over the McLaren and over Charles so let's see where we fall out.”

And Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc added: "Honestly considering the weekend we’ve had until now, I did not expect it all.

"The last lap I knew I had to put absolutely everything together and the last corner was a little bit too much sliding, but I think everybody had that, so really happy with the second place.

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"Q1 and Q2 I was worried to go through and at the end front row, so it’s amazing.

"For some reason our car is very picky, whenever we are on scrub tyres, like the first run in Q3 it was a very good lap, but we were last."

"When we put on the new tyres everything comes alive it felt great and again, I did a great lap so really happy to be on the front row, but it’s a big surprise."