.webp)
Hamilton is preparing for his last appearance with "Mercedes" at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix this weekend, getting ready to start a new career with "Ferrari" in 2025.
The Briton decided to end his long collaboration with the German brand last winter, despite having signed an extension agreement last September. However, Hamilton's contract, which represents a "one plus one" agreement, included a break clause that he decided to activate once "Ferrari" approached with an offer for a long-term deal.
Before this, Hamilton had repeatedly expressed his desire to conclude his career with "Mercedes," the brand that brought him seven world championships and a record 105 victories. However, a final compromise on a short-term agreement was reached thanks to the desire of "Mercedes" team principal Toto Wolff to maintain impartiality regarding the team's driver lineup.
Mercedes' engineering director Andrew Shovlin acknowledged that Hamilton's decision to move to "Ferrari" now guarantees that he will leave on his own terms.
"It was a bold and daring decision, but you can completely understand why he did it," Shovlin said in an interview with the BBC. "He wanted to drive for longer than we were willing to. He wanted to start a new chapter in his career, related to 'Ferrari,' and for him, it's a big challenge. Apart from racing, he still has an impact on the sport and diversity within it. He has many things to do, and it's much easier for him to do that from the driver's seat. He has a noticeable voice in the world. This is an important part of his goals, along with winning races and, hopefully, an eighth championship title."
Hamilton's brilliant success with "Mercedes" has recently waned due to the team's struggles to master the modern ground-effect cars introduced in 2022. However, Hamilton has also struggled with the latest cars, particularly the unpredictable "Mercedes W15," which made it difficult for him to gain speed on a single lap.
"If you're looking for a common theme, we have a car that's difficult to handle in slow corners, and drivers have to turn by shifting the rear at the entrance and shifting it on power at the exit," Shovlin explained. "This increases tire temperature, and Lewis found it quite challenging to deal with this issue. It can be argued that Lewis was head and shoulders above everyone in the previous set of regulations. He certainly considered driving the car second nature. Lewis set up the car in such a way that when the rear of the car lifted during braking, it helped him turn the car, and he relied on those elements. That’s how efficiency was achieved in the previous set of regulations. What concerns him most is how these cars drive. These cars need to be made lower, made stiffer; they hit the ground harder, and they don't have as much ride height as before."
Nevertheless, this season, Hamilton managed to celebrate a victory again with his long-time team, ending his prolonged drought without wins with his ninth victory at Silverstone.
"It was just great to be a part of this, especially in Silverstone," Shovlin added. "It was great to see him there. It was great to see what it meant to him. It was nice to learn how difficult it was for him to constantly ask himself the question: 'Have I won my last race?', not knowing if he had one ahead of him. Ultimately, you do this for those memories. That's why this sport is so fun, exciting, and enjoyable. This is what it means to be part of such moments."