Hamilton wasn't happy on Thursday and switched to a bigger wing for Friday that gave the car more stability, but cost time on the straights.
He progressed through the first two qualifying sessions in 11th and 10th positions, and then took eighth when it mattered in Q3, a place behind team-mate George Russell.
Max Verstappen claimed pole for Red Bull ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.
Hamilton stressed that bouncing was making life particularly difficult in the first part of the lap.
"It wasn't a really good qualifying at all," he said when asked about his session by Autosport.
"I really struggled with the car yesterday, and then FP3 I was really much happier with the car, with a slightly bigger wing, but I was losing two-tenths in the straight.
"But I gained some stability back, and I was I was much, much happier, and I thought I would carry that into qualifying.
"But unfortunately, the bouncing is still there. It makes it very, very, very difficult to push through that for a session. That's why we were so slow in that first sector."
Source: Autosport