Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff has addressed why Lewis Hamilton has had such an unsettled final season with the team as they prepare for an “emotional” farewell at the season-closer in Abu Dhabi.
Following the shock announcement earlier this year that Lewis Hamilton will head to Ferrari in 2025, the Briton has had a rollercoaster of a season with Mercedes – including everything from the highs of a spectacular victory at Silverstone to disappointing Q1 exits.
While the team’s rivals have continued to surge forward, the Brackley outfit have struggled to extract consistent performance from the W15 and suffered from extreme understeer, especially at tracks like Qatar.
Hamilton’s race around the Lusail International Circuit also went from bad to worse as he was handed a five-second penalty for a false start, lost time with a puncture, and received a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
Hamilton finished outside of the points in the Qatar Grand Prix
Meanwhile, his team mate George Russell claimed a P3 and P4 finish in the Sprint and Grand Prix respectively, also finding himself able to challenge for pole position while the 39-year-old failed to find that kind of pace.
“I think one of his strengths is the way he’s able to brake late and attack the corner and that car can’t take it,” Wolff explained after the race when asked about Hamilton’s on-track issues. “And then when there’s days like today when the grip comes in, that phenomenon is even more articulated and makes it even worse for him, and for George also.
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“And then if the car slides more and lacks grip, it comes alive so that’s a pattern for the future of this car. So that contributes to him struggling more than George.
“Now, you see those very bad races, he wears his heart on his sleeve, you express your emotions and that is absolutely allowed, that is okay.
“Nothing is going to take away 12 incredible years with eight constructors’ championships and six drivers’, and that is what will be in the memory and, after next Sunday, we’ll look back on this great period of time rather than a season or some races that were particularly bad, we’ll stay with the good memories.»
Russell has scored 235 points this season, with Hamilton on 211
The remarkably successful pairing of Hamilton and Mercedes will come to an end in Abu Dhabi as the team prepare to welcome rookie driver Kimi Antonelli, with the seven-time world champion heading to Ferrari to partner Charles Leclerc.
The Briton has scored five podiums this season, including wins in Belgium and Great Britain, but he has also suffered intense periods of doubt in the W15 – after the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, he declared he “didn’t want to come back”, and later commented he does not feel “fast anymore”.
Wolff nevertheless appeared keen to end their tumultuous year on a high, saying: “We have one more to go, we will continue to give it our utmost and we will celebrate the partnership and relationship we had and those few races will be forgotten quickly, as much as it hurts at the moment.
“It will be emotional – in a way it doesn’t touch us yet so much because we are right in the middle of everything, fighting, trying to do our best every session, every day. But the closer it comes, the more emotional it will be and particularly Sunday, the last laps of the last race – I hope we can recover a bit from what we’ve seen this weekend.”
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