Lewis Hamilton admitted he hasn’t handled the emotional strain of his coming departure from Mercedes well at times this year.
The seven-times world champion confirmed before the season began that he would not continue with the team for a 13th year in 2025, having signed a deal to drive for Ferrari. He admitted that has caused difficult moments between him and Mercedes over the course of the year, starting with team principal Toto Wolff.“The first meeting with Toto at the beginning of the year was awkward, of course,” said Hamilton in today’s FIA press conference. “So it was awkward from the get-go.
“The day after I took some of the team paintballing and they had just found out. So there has been loads of moments through the year. I got lots of shots [from] people, I had loads of bruises. People went in on me that day.”
Hamilton said he didn’t realise how hard his decision to leave would make life at the team this year. “I think ultimately, definitely I anticipated it would be difficult, but I massively underestimated how difficult it would be,” he said. “It was straining on the relationship very early on. It took time for people to get over, get past it.”
His form has fluctuated this year. Though he won twice in the space of three races at mid-season, he has had conspicuously poor performances in recent rounds, notably in Brazil and last week in Qatar. His qualifying has been consistently below par and last week he said he was “definitely not fast”.
He admitted he handled the situation poorly at times. “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,” he said. “I think this year, and so many of you have been here my whole career, so some of you I think you’ve all seen the worst of me and seen the best of me.
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“I’m not going to apologise for either because I’m only human and I don’t always get it right. And I would definitely would say this year has been one of the worst in terms of handling in that from my side, which I’ll work on trying to be better at.
“But I hope the good and the highs far outweigh the negatives and how I’ve handled it or behaved. And as I said, I just remember the good times.”
This is only the second time in Hamilton’s 17-year F1 career that he has left a team. However he said the experience of moving on from Mercedes has been much harder than joining them from McLaren at the end of 2012.
“It definitely wasn’t as painful and difficult as this year has been in terms of the emotions,” he said. “I think because it was at the end of the year, it was much quicker and there wasn’t enough time for it to really settle in for anyone, I think, within the team.
“So this one’s much more emotional because I’ve been with the team so long and we’ve been through so much together.”
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I have an opinion
5th December 2024, 12:47
His on-track performance also seemed affected in the years he had “woman trouble”.
paulguitar (@paulguitar)
5th December 2024, 13:21
2011 he broke up with Nicole. I don’t think he has been affected this way in any other season.
Todfod (@todfod)
6th December 2024, 5:05
My first thoughts exactly. He’s said one of his worst, because 2011 was clearly his worst year when it came down to handling emotions/being in a bad head space
Jim from US (@jimfromus)
5th December 2024, 13:11
He quit the team effective after the last race of the season but he actually checked out way earlier. Owes the team some money.
paulguitar (@paulguitar)
5th December 2024, 13:21
What are you talking about?
SteveP
5th December 2024, 13:23
They can take it from all the win bonuses he didn’t get because the car was naff. Say 50% of nothing?
Biggsy
5th December 2024, 13:49
Dude is talking about “handling emotions”, as if he’s the one getting sacked by Mercedes, and being left without a drive for next year, effectively ending his career as an F1 driver, when in reality, he’s the one who decided to leave the team and go to a faster one, for even more money.
I haven’t heard Sainz complaining that much or “handling emotions” after getting sacked for no reason, having his dream effectively killed, and facing a future of driving for a backmarker or dropping out of F1 completely.
He’s one of those people who constantly talk about not wanting any drama, while constantly being drama queens.
paulguitar (@paulguitar)
5th December 2024, 13:53
He’s just saying some perfectly sensible stuff about a significant situation in his life and career.
Why the relentless, never-ending moaning about this bloke? It’s so tiresome.
SteveP
5th December 2024, 15:22
Some people just can’t get over a black guy having the temerity to be good at driving an F1 car (and F2 before)
SPArtacus
6th December 2024, 3:08
I’ve been highly critical of Lewis’ defeatism and paranoia, but he doesn’t say anything here that implies the team (I.E., engineers, mechanics, etc.) have let him down in any way or behaved poorly. He admits he hasn’t handled the season as well as he could have in terms emotion. I wouldn’t go as far as to say he’s held himself accountable, but I only see comments that are modestly commendable.
Invisiblekid (@invisiblekid)
6th December 2024, 13:59
Oh for the love of God.
BenHur
6th December 2024, 22:07
Why bother about what someone who never once spoke a single truth says now?
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
5th December 2024, 13:59
It’s not the way either one of them wanted this to end. They’ve had some highs this season but they’ve also had many lows. I think it’s good that Hamilton took the decision himself and did it sooner than later. He’s at least leaving the team in the hands of another capable driver, although there’s no doubt that his departure will create a massive hole that Mercedes will need to fill.
It’s a new chapter for both and I’m sure this is not the end of Lewis and Mercedes – I’m sure he will part of the team eventually in some capacity.
Alonslow
5th December 2024, 14:58
C’mon not really, he’s just a driver, a really good driver but also one that is old enough that Russell can match.
Mercedes will be fine, the only hole Lewis will make is the merch, ‘Hamilton’ sells a lot more than ‘Kimi Antonelli’.
Edvaldo
5th December 2024, 14:29
It’s the worst year, but by Australia, it seemed it would be much worse than this, he won 2 races, including the home GP, so, still not that bad.
That it wouldn’t be easy and some awkward moments would happen, it was expected. Even Alonso in 2006 threw Renault under the bus a couple of times amidst the championship clash. Or Montoya in 2004, in both cases the driver also had a full season to endure with the team he was going to leave.
SPArtacus
6th December 2024, 6:42
Alonso scored in every single race in 2006 and never finished worse than 5th. So, how do you figure? (NA: engine failure in ITA; wheel nut failure in HUN).
SPArtacus
6th December 2024, 6:48
Oh, sorry misread your post. You were referring to him leaving and/or criticizing the team. I still can’t remember any noteworthy moments. It was a very smooth, non-awkward season from the outside. He and the team always looked + sounded super happy. Then again, they were winning. So, that’d be pretty easy.
SPArtacus
6th December 2024, 6:50
Craziest part about JPM is that he had signed with McLaren halfway through the 2003 season after a having meltdown post-French GP. But I don’t think Williams found out until the winter before 2004.
Vettel’s last Ferrari season was highly awkward.
Michael A.
6th December 2024, 7:50
If Sir Lewis Hamilton announces early in 2025, after pre-season testing, that he is returning to Mercedes, it will be another period of ’emotion handling’.
It will also mean that SLH switching teams will be in the news every day of the year, just like this year.