Lewis Hamilton F1 News: Mercedes make LATE change in official FIA announcement at Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes make LATE Hamilton change in official FIA announcement at Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Mercedes have tweaked Hamilton's car

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Saturday 7 December 2024 13:28

An official FIA announcement has revealed that Mercedes have made a late change to Lewis Hamilton's car at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Hamilton is set to compete in his final race with the team at the Yas Marina Circuit this weekend, following a highly-successful 12-season partnership.

F1 HEADLINES: FIA announce Hamilton verdict as MAJOR absence confirmed at Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Article continues under video

F1 RESULTS TODAY: Verstappen NIGHTMARE at Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after major FIA penalty

The seven-time world champion will instead join Ferrari from 2025, hoping to claim an unprecedented eighth title and become the outright most successful driver in F1 history.

Hamilton is hoping to end his Mercedes career on a high, having already claimed two race victories throughout 2024 to take his overall career tally up to 105.

Lewis Hamilton will join Ferrari in 2025

Lewis Hamilton will take to the Abu Dhabi track in his final Mercedes race

Mercedes make Hamilton car change

Despite those two victories at Silverstone and Spa, Hamilton's final season at Mercedes has been a pretty dismal one, currently sat down in seventh in the drivers' championship, behind team-mate George Russell.

Russell has outqualified Hamilton on 18 occasions in the 23 events so far this season too, representing a remarkable drop-off in form for the 39-year-old.

As he attempts to bounce back for one last hurrah at the Yas Marina Circuit, it has been revealed that a late change was made to Hamilton's W15 car ahead of the weekend's action.

According to an official FIA document, Mercedes ran a different gearbox assembly outside of restricted-number-components (RNC) for FP1 and FP2 on Hamilton's car, something that is only allowed on four occasions throughout the season.

With it being the third time Mercedes have done this throughout 2024, Hamilton will not receive a penalty for the change.

Lewis Hamilton Ferrari Mercedes FIA Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Yas Marina Circuit