Seven-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton has admitted he’s counting down the days until the holiday season, signaling his desire to wrap up his final Formula 1 season with Mercedes on a high note. Earlier this year, the British driver informed team principal Toto Wolff that he would be stepping away from the Silver Arrows at season’s end in order to embark on a new chapter with Scuderia Ferrari starting with the next F1 campaign.
After over a decade with Mercedes, whom he joined in 2013 following his departure from McLaren, Lewis Hamilton was determined to make his final season memorable. He managed this with a thrilling victory at the British Grand Prix in July in front of his home fans, followed by another win at Spa-Francorchamps a few weeks later.
However, recent races have been challenging for the future Ferrari driver. A fourth-place finish at the 4.304-kilometre Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City was offset by a tough retirement in the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas and a distant 10th in Sao Paulo, where the resurfaced, uneven track exposed weaknesses in the Mercedes car.
Now, at 39, Lewis Hamilton is eagerly anticipating the end of this demanding championship as he looks ahead to an exciting new chapter with Ferrari next year. Reflecting on his recent difficulties, the British driver acknowledged the emotional weight of his final season with Mercedes and the anticipation building as he readies for a fresh start in red.
“I just put my focus on something else. I’m not fighting for the championship. Doesn’t matter, really, where we finish in the championship. I don’t care if I finish ahead of [team-mate] George [Russell] or behind George. It doesn’t make any difference to me. I just want to keep the car out the wall and try to score points if I can for the team, if I can finish, whatever. If they give me a car that doesn’t bounce off the track in the next few races, then hopefully we can get a better result. But yeah, looking forward to Christmas.” – the seven-time F1 world champion admitted at the end of the Brazilian Grand Prix in Sao Paulo.
When questioned about the source of the severe bouncing that left him with notable back pain throughout the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend, Lewis Hamilton was asked to clarify if the issue stemmed from Mercedes’ low ride height setup or simply from the notoriously uneven Interlagos track surface: ” “Both, but I think mostly because the car, just something that’s not right. Qualifying was bad. Sprint race was bad. The car’s just been bad all weekend.” – the Mercedes man pointed out – “Obviously, it’s devastating to have these bad races in the second half of the season – but all I can say is, we’re trying. We’re coming into the weekends, but it’s definitely not acceptable. It’s definitely not good enough and we have to take accountability. I have to take accountability, but I am doing the best with what I’ve got. The car has been the worst this weekend and I don’t know what it is. We’re going to have to find out what it is.” – he added.
When asked about the unpredictable performance swings in his Mercedes W15 single-seater, where it seems to go from strong one weekend to struggling the next, Lewis Hamilton offered a lighthearted response, joking: “You tell me. That’s the million-dollar question. If you can find it, I’ll give you a million dollars!”
Leave a Reply