Lewis Hamilton’s “really turbulent year” admission after final F1 race with Mercedes
"It's been a really turbulent year, probably the longest year of my life."
Lewis Hamilton has conceded his final year with Mercedes has been “really turbulent”, describing F1 2024 as the “longest year of my life”.
Hamilton bowed out of Mercedes with a spectacular drive from 16th on the grid to finish fourth at the F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
On the whole though, 2024 has been a poor one by Hamilton’s high standards.
Aside from his two F1 race victories, Hamilton has generally been out-performed by George Russell, particularly on a Saturday.
Speaking after his final race with Mercedes, Hamilton was asked whether it was important for his confidence that he ended the year on a high.
He replied: “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 with a high today.”
“It took perfection” to beat Russell
Hamilton came alive on the medium tyres, reducing Russell’s 14-second gap in the second stint of the race.
The seven-time world champion admitted it required “perfection” to beat his teammate in Abu Dhabi.
“He was driving great, obviously he started a lot further ahead than I did, so to catch the 14 seconds was tough, but he was putting in good laps, and so it took perfection,” he added.
“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 the gap, and I only caught him right at that last lap, and I was like it's now or never, and so I just waited for him.”
2024 was officially Hamilton’s worst season in terms of championship position.
Before this year, he’s never finished outside the top five in the drivers’ standings.
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