The Mercedes W11 was a "masterpiece" - Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton has described his seventh world title-winning car as a "masterpiece" and revealed he was "sad" to park the car for the final time in Abu Dhabi.

In the hands of Hamilton, the Mercedes W11 took 11 wins from 17 races last year, 10 pole positions and five fastest laps.

With team-mate Valtteri Bottas adding a further two wins and five pole positions, Mercedes became the first team to record seven consecutive constructors' championship titles.

“The W11 has been a real... every year it is a piece of art and it’s a masterpiece designed to perfection by a large group of people," Hamilton said.

"But that masterpiece, I have to go out and cause havoc with it and find its limitations, find places its unhappy to go to and communicate that with the group of people that I work with to figure out how we can get it to go further, to extend, be faster.

“That’s an amazing journey you go on during the year and it’s definitely sad at the end of a season when you get in for the last time and you know that’s the last time you’re going to be driving the car."

Although Hamilton won't drive this iteration of Mercedes again, the large carryover of parts from last year to this means the reigning champion will not be in entirely unfamiliar machinery when heading into pre-season testing and the Australian Grand Prix in March.

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