ABU DHABI: After 12 years, 245 grands prix, 78 pole positions and 84 race and sprint wins, Lewis Hamilton will end his Mercedes career this weekend at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.
The seven-time F1 world champion, who announced his departure from the Silver Arrows to rivals Ferrari in 2025 ahead of the start of this season, has had a mixed year with an unpredictable car that has performed at its best in cooler temperatures.
Hamilton’s one race win on the road this season at Silverstone in Great Britain was followed up by a second-place finish behind team-mate George Russell at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, before Russell was disqualified. However, with qualifying sometimes proving a challenge, Hamilton was unable to compete for regular podiums, instead having to settle for top-10 finishes.
Cooler temperatures at November’s Las Vegas Grand Prix presented the team with another one-two finish as Russell claimed victory.
In Qatar last weekend, however, Hamilton felt that he was “just slow” in the Sprint Qualifying, crossing the line in seventh place, five places behind George Russell’s front row start. After qualifying in P6, his grand prix race was also challenging, and following a puncture, a dejected Hamilton finished in 12th place.
Hamilton will be going up against Charles Leclerc, into his seventh season with Ferrari, and a consistently quick qualifier. Much like this season with George Russell, Hamilton may see his best chance to beat his new team-mate over the course of a race, rather than through qualifying alone.
The second half of this season has demonstrated that Ferrari will be one of a number of teams to compete for both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ titles in 2025 ahead of the introduction of the new F1 regulations in 2026.
Hamilton, who will not take part in next week’s post-season test at Yas Marina Circuit for either Mercedes or Ferrari, acknowledged the sentimental weight of the transition and admitted that he has begun to reflect.
Ahead of last weekend’s Qatar race weekend, Hamilton said: “I sat down with (race engineer) Bono and I’m like, ‘Jeez, this is our last two races together. Can you believe it?’ There’s going to be so many of those moments … where it’ll be like, ‘Shoot, it’s nearly it.’ It’s been emotional through the whole year. It’s definitely going to feel odd, sad, but we’ll try not to let that deter us from our job, which is to try and win these final races, if possible.”
