‘A trip to the history books’: Lewis Hamilton leaves Mercedes after six titles and 246 F1 races
Lewis Hamilton left Mercedes with one final pass and a heartfelt message to the team where he won the title. Formula 1 title six times.
“We dreamed alone but together we believed” Hamilton said race engineer Peter Bonnington and team principal Toto Wolff on the radio.
“Thank you for all your courage, determination and passion, and for seeing me and supporting me. What started as a leap of faith has turned into a journey into the history books.”
Hamilton joins Ferrari for 2025 after 12 years at Mercedes, where he won all but one of his seven career drivers’ championships. It was the most successful partnership between a team and driver in F1 history, and it ended with teammate George Russell overtaking for fourth place on the very last lap.
After the finish, Hamilton turned his car into celebratory ‘donuts’ for the crowd before coming out for the final time and taking a salute to chants of ‘Lewis’. He then crouched down next to the Mercedes and patted the car.
Hamilton’s move to Ferrari will allow the British driver, who turns 40 next month, to continue seeking an eighth world title. That’s something he was denied in 2021 in Abu Dhabi when Max Verstappen overtook on the final lap after a safety car restart. He’s staying one of the most controversial moments in F1 history.
It’s been nearly 10 months and an entire season since Hamilton’s decision was announced in February, and he admitted his impending departure was a strain on his relationships within the team.
Hamilton started his 246th and final race with Mercedes from 16th on the grid after misfortune in qualifying this prompted an apology from Wolff.
Hamilton moved up to 12th in the opening laps, but struggled to progress from there. “I ain’t got no rhythm, mate,” he said on the radio. It looked like Hamilton’s unlucky run these last races would continue and cast a shadow over his farewells.
But little by little, things began to move in his direction. The strategy of starting with the more durable hard tire and finishing with the faster medium compound paid off, and Hamilton gradually moved up the field as the other drivers had to pit.
A podium was even possible at one point, Mercedes hoped, but Hamilton had to settle for catching Russell on the final lap. Still, “it was the motivation of a world champion,” Wolff told Hamilton radio.
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