Lewis Hamilton F1 News: Mercedes star makes 'difficult' admission in honest team assessment

Lewis Hamilton

Hamilton makes 'difficult' Mercedes admission in honest F1 team assessment

Lewis Hamilton will leave his Mercedes team at the end of the year

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Tuesday 20 August 2024 08:27

Lewis Hamilton has said that he's proud of the work that he and George Russell are doing to help Mercedes ahead of his switch to Ferrari, despite enduring 'difficult' times with the Silver Arrows.

Hamilton is a seven-time Formula 1 world champion, and has won six of those seven championship titles with the Brackley-based outfit across 12 seasons of association.

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However, Mercedes' last three cars have not allowed Hamilton to challenge for world championships, and he has instead been left celebrating podium finishes as Red Bull and Max Verstappen have dominated the sport.

Last winter, Hamilton announced he will be joining Ferrari ahead of the 2025 season, in a last-ditch attempt to win an unprecedented eighth drivers' title.

The timing of that early announcement caught team principal Toto Wolff by surprise, with a whole season left for Hamilton to navigate before moving to Maranello.

Lewis Hamilton is a seven-time Formula 1 world champion

Lewis Hamilton brilliantly won the British Grand Prix

Hamilton's fairytale Mercedes ending

While the 2024 season will have been tinged with sadness for all involved that one of F1's most fruitful partnerships will be coming to an end, Hamilton has done his best to end on a high.

Despite Mercedes' underperforming car, the 39-year-old has managed to claim two race victories, taking him up to 105 in his career, and banishing a two-and-a-half year drought that had haunted him since his 2021 title loss to Verstappen.

Now, the Brit has said that he is proud of the work he and his team have done to help Mercedes through their 'difficult' patch.

"I couldn’t be more proud of the people that I work with and this team, and I couldn’t be more grateful to Mercedes," he told GPFans and select media at the Belgian Grand Prix.

"Mercedes have changed my life, supported me since I was 13 years of age, given me a chance to be a Formula 1 driver for them and putting their faith behind me all these years so it’s been amazing.

"We’ve gone through difficult times but always came out with our heads high and stayed true to our values.

"For us to have now gone through this difficult phase to slowly building back up to fight for wins is a great feeling, and I’m proud of the work George and I are doing.

"I’m really excited about the next few months we have ahead of us."

Red Bull Lewis Hamilton Ferrari Mercedes Formula 1 George Russell