F1 champion Lewis Hamilton makes SHOCK admission over failures amid Mercedes exit

Lewis Hamilton

Hamilton makes SHOCK admission over failures amid Mercedes exit

Lewis Hamilton's final season at Mercedes has been difficult for the champion

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Monday 9 December 2024 13:57

Lewis Hamilton has made a shock admission over his Formula 1 failures in 2024, amid his exit from the Mercedes team.

The seven-time world champion’s final season with the Brackley outfit has been characterised by Hamilton’s frustration at the W15's performance, and his failure to get the best out of his car compared to team-mate George Russell.

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Aside from a win in Silverstone and Spa, the champion has had little to celebrate and has been bested by team-mate Russell in both qualifying and races, finishing behind him in the drivers' championship.

Hamilton’s frustrations have risen to the surface on more than one occasion during his post-race interviews, including suggesting at the Las Vegas GP that he had considered leaving Mercedes early.

However, Hamilton adopted a much more upbeat attitude in Abu Dhabi, and rounded off his Mercedes career in style, cutting through the field from 16th on the grid to finish fourth.

Lewis Hamilton will race with Ferrari in 2025

George Russell has enjoyed an advantage over Lewis Hamilton in qualifying in 2024

Lewis Hamilton reveals emotional 2024 at Mercedes

Hamilton will not have to deal with Mercedes' performance woes any longer, as he prepares to head for Ferrari in 2025.

During his last race at the Abu Dhabi GP, the 39-year-old admitted to the mistakes he made in 2024, and claimed he had not handled his emotions in the best way.

"The first meeting at the beginning of the year with Toto [Wolff] was awkward, of course, to the day after when I took some of the team paintballing and they’d just found out," Hamilton said to the media at Yas Marina.

"I’d anticipated it would be difficult, but massively underestimated how difficult it would be.

"It was straining on the relationship very early on, it took time for people to get past it.

Lewis Hamilton claims his emotions got the better of him in 2024

"It’s been an emotional year for me and I think I’ve not been at my best in handling and dealing with those emotions.

"I would definitely say this year’s been one of the worst in handling that from my side, which I’ll work on trying to be better at.

"I’ve built some incredible relationships. If you imagine when you’re going through a season together with so many people, you’re not only riding the highs and lows together on race weekends but also in their personal lives - through marriages, divorces, loss of family members, cancer, through all sorts.

"You’re going through these journeys with beautiful people, so it’s a really beautiful journey you go on together.

"And being there so long, the emotions run so deep."

F1 Max Verstappen Lewis Hamilton Mercedes George Russell Sergio Perez