Lewis Hamilton said there was something wrong with his Mercedes after he qualified only 11th for Sunday’s season finale in Abu Dhabi. As Max Verstappen put his Red Bull on pole position for the final race of his all-conquering campaign – with Charles Leclerc second and Oscar Piastri third – Hamilton was left starting at another poor performance in his underperforming machinery. The seven-time world champion, facing up to a second season without a victory, finished six tenths behind Verstappen and a third-of-a-second back from team-mate George Russell, who qualified fourth. Hamilton’s failure to progress to Q3 – as he gloomily predicted here on Friday night – leaves the fight between Mercedes and Ferrari for second place in the constructors’ championship firmly in the balance. The Silver Arrows head their Italian rivals by just four points ahead of Sunday’s finale in the desert. And Leclerc finished ahead of both Russell and Hamilton to hand Ferrari the initiative. However, Mercedes were handed a minor boost after Carlos Sainz was a surprise eliminee in Q1. A day after he crashed out in practice, Sainz bemoaned traffic for his lowly 16th grid slot. It emerged earlier this week that Hamilton’s father and one-time manager Anthony had enquired about a seat for his son at Red Bull. Hamilton has recorded just one podium in his last six appearances following Mercedes’ tumble down the grid, and he faces an uphill task to salvage a respectable result at the Yas Marina Circuit. “There is something not right with this car, mate,” said the 38-year-old as he headed back to the pits shaking his head. Hamilton is third in the standings, an extraordinary 317 points Verstappen, with the Dutchman starting Sunday’s 58-lap race as the overwhelming favourite to claim a remarkable 19th victory from the 22 rounds this year. Verstappen finished 0.139 seconds ahead of Leclerc, while McLaren’s Lando Norris was a disappointing fifth. The British driver got out of shape on his final lap in the last sector, losing him considerable time. “The whole weekend has been a struggle,” said Verstappen. “But we improved the car for qualifying so I am very happy to be on pole.” Quizzed about Ferrari’s battle against Mercedes, Leclerc said: “I hope it is going to go well. “The target is to beat them, so I hope Carlos get a good start and joins me in the fight. “Let’s look to put both of our cars in front of Mercedes because finishing second in the constructors is all that matters to me.” Elsewhere, Yuki Tsunoda impressed to take sixth spot for AlphaTauri, one place ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso. Sergio Perez’s final lap was deleted for exceeding track limits, leaving him in ninth. Read More George Russell fastest as rookies handed chance in first Abu Dhabi practice Class action lawsuit filed over farcical start to Las Vegas Grand Prix Toto Wolff fuelled by ‘personal anger’ to help Lewis Hamilton win eighth title On this day in 2010: Sebastian Vettel becomes youngest ever F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton to start down the order in Abu Dhabi as Max Verstappen claims pole F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix LIVE: Qualifying updates and times at Yas Marina

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Adriana Chechik has confirmed that she’s back making OnlyFans content again after breaking her back in 2022. The streamer and former adult star said just a few weeks ago that she was still in chronic levels of pain over a year after breaking her back in a foam pit accident. Chechik required surgery on her back after breaking it by diving into a foam pit at the Twitch annual convention, TwitchCon, in October 2022. Now, the 32-year-old has announced that she’s back with livestreams on the adult content site after regaining “feeling” in her body. “It’s happening at 5 pm PST! Unfortunately, my gaming PC broke so now setting up a new one as this house has bad wifi! So looking forward to 5 pm PST!” she wrote on Twitter, announcing that she was live on the site for the first time since breaking her back. She also said that she had been “working hard” to get herself to this point and “regain the feeling inside [her] body.” It comes just a few weeks after she spoke about her struggles with recovery. The Daily Star reports that she explained in an X/Twitter post: “This year, I’ve learned so much about my own strength and will to achieve my goals. I started doing 5 to 6-day-a-week workouts at 7 AM for the past two months. “I’ve been doing physical therapy seven days a week for close to a year now. I cannot explain how hard it is to motivate yourself every morning when you’re suffering with chronic pain.” In recent years, Chechik has transitioned away from being an adult performer in favour of live-streaming gaming content and posting on her OnlyFans account. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings

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