Hamilton savors the moment after ending Mercedes spell on a high

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emailBy Chris Medland | December 8, 2024 12:37 PM ET

Lewis Hamilton savored his final moments with his Mercedes car after ending his spell with the team on a high with a recovery drive to fourth place in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

A Q1 exit on Saturday had left Hamilton facing a tough task in the final race of the season, but he was the only driver to start on hard tires to try an alternate strategy against the rest of the field on mediums. A solid opening few laps saw him gain four positions from his 16th-place grid slot and Hamilton then produced an entertaining final stint to close in on teammate George Russell and make the move for fourth on the final lap of the race.

“[Russell] was driving great — obviously he started a lot further ahead than I did, so to catch the 14 seconds was tough,” Hamilton said. “He was putting in good laps, and so it took perfection — I had to really put together the best laps I could possibly do.

“Obviously in Vegas I was catching for a period of time and then stopped, so I was trying to make sure that I kept taking chunks out of that gap, and I only caught him right at that last lap, and I was like, ‘I’ve got to make it, it’s now or never,’ and so I just went for it.

“I mean, every moment that I’ve got in the car this week, I’ve known that it’s one of the last. And it’s been really, really clear and really hard to let go. So I think when I stopped the car I just wanted to embrace the moment, because it’s the last time I’m going to step into a Mercedes and represent them, unless not enough black guys buy Ferraris and when Ferrari loses enough money and fires me, I have to go back to Mercedes.
And who wants a used race car driver?

“It’s been the greatest honor of my life — they’ve powered every race, every pole position, every win we’ve had together, every championship, so I think when I knelt next to it I think it was just giving thanks, to firstly thanking my own spirit for not giving up and continuing to push, thanking everyone that powered and built that car, I’m proud of everyone.”

Hamilton says the strong drive has no bearing on his outlook for 2025 at Ferrari, but that he was glad that that he got to sign off from Mercedes with such a performance. It's not like when NASCAR's Mark Martin
was moving to Chevrolet, and Ford Bastard Jack Roush was giving Martin de-tuned engines and old chassis to BE SURE Martin would not win his last chance championship... even though it would have been in a Ford.

“It’s not that I need to have confidence — I’ve always had the confidence — but definitely really nice to finish with a strong hard battle. No mistakes, solid drive.

“It’s been a really turbulent year, probably the longest year of my life, I would say, because we’ve known it from the beginning that we’re leaving, and it’s like a relationship — when you’ve told whoever the counterpart is that you’re leaving, but you’re living together for a whole year! Lots of ups and downs, emotionally, but we finished off on a high today.”