F1 News
Hamilton reveals tough final Mercedes year: “People went in on me that day”
Lewis Hamilton brought the entire Formula 1 world down early on in the year when it was announced he had signed to drive for Ferrari from 2025 and onwards. During the FIA Drivers' Conference in Abu Dhabi he took the lid off of what he has revealed has been an "awkward" year, "straining" on the relationship he had with his team members during his final year as a Mercedes driver.
"2024 was awkward from the get go"
He first told team principal and Mercedes' F1 team CEO, Toto Wolff, and that set the tone for the rest of the year: "The first meeting with Toto at the beginning of the year was awkward, of course, so it was awkward from the get go", states Hamilton, who in an effort to heal the relationship with his fellow team members had the initiative to take them paintballing. Easy to say, it didn't go quite as Hamilton hoped it would.
"I've got lots of shots off people, loads of bruises. People went in on me that day. I anticipated it would be difficult, but massively underestimated how difficult it would be", which was of course telling, regarding how they felt about the 7 time World Champion parting ways with Mercedes. Shortly afterwards the soon to be a former Mercedes driver admitted that he could have done better as well: "It was straining on the relationship very early on, took time for people to get past it. And then just from my own self, it's been a very emotional year for me. And I think I've not been at my best in handling and dealing with those emotions".
Following on the subject of handling his emotions, Hamilton, conscious of the level of exposure he's constantly under, knows that this year has been the worst in terms of how he handles his emotions, but won't apologise: So many of you [media] have been here my whole career so some I think you've all seen the worst of me and seen the best of me. I'm not going to apologise because I'm only human and I don't always get it right.I would definitely say this year's been one of the worst in terms of handling that from my side, which I'll work on trying to be better at. I hope the good and the highs far outweigh the negatives in how I've handled it or behaved.
How will Hamilton look back on his Mercedes days?
For a driver who has won 84 Grand Prix with the same team, 104 with the same engine manufacturer, he is perfectly clear on what he will take away from the time he spent defending the Mercedes name and colours out on track: "I just remember the good times. I've built some incredible relationships. Can you imagine when you're going through a season together with so many people, not only on those race weekends?", states Hamilton, who also has inevitably nurtured a personal relationship with the people at Mercedes.
"You're riding the highs and lows together, but in their personal lives through marriages, through divorces, through loss of family members, through cancer, through all sorts. You're going through these journeys with these people so it's a really beautiful journey you go on together and being that was so long the emotions run so deep", concluded the 7 time World Champion.