Hamilton admits to ‘emotional’ turmoil in final season with Mercedes

For Lewis Hamilton, 2024 has been a year like no other in his illustrious Formula 1 career.

As he prepares to bid farewell to Mercedes after 12 years and join Ferrari in 2025, the seven-time world champion has opened up about the emotional strain of his final season with the team.

In a candid reflection during the FIA press conference ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Hamilton admitted he "massively underestimated" just how difficult it would be to navigate his final campaign the Silver Arrows.

Hamilton acknowledged that the emotional toll of his departure affected not just him but also his relationships within the team, starting with team principal Toto Wolff.

“The first meeting with Toto at the beginning of the year was awkward, of course,” Hamilton said. “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 have 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.”

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The playful paintball outing may have been an attempt to ease tensions, but Hamilton admitted the situation was challenging from the start.

“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.”

The emotional strain has seemingly impacted Hamilton’s performance on track. While he secured back-to-back wins mid-season, his form in recent races – save in Las Vegas – has been inconsistent.

Underwhelming results in Brazil and Qatar have raised eyebrows, with Hamilton himself admitting last week, in a startling moment of self-assessment, that he was “not fast anymore”.

Reflecting on his handling of the emotional challenges, Hamilton confessed he hadn’t always managed things well.

“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.

“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 say this year has been one of the worst in terms of handling 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.”

Hamilton’s move to Ferrari marks only the second time in his career that he has switched teams, following his departure from McLaren at the end of 2012.

However, he said this transition has been far more taxing psychologically than his first.

“It definitely wasn’t as painful and difficult as this year has been in terms of the emotions,” Hamilton admitted, referring to his McLaren exit.

“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.”

As Hamilton prepares to close this chapter of his career, he remains reflective about his time with Mercedes, a partnership that has yielded six world championships and an era of dominance in F1.

While the emotional challenges of his final season have been profound, the 39-year-old is determined to focus on the positives.

With one final race left in 2024, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix offers Hamilton a chance to finish his Mercedes tenure on a high.

Whatever the outcome, his legacy with the Silver Arrows is already cemented – both on the track and in the hearts of the team he will soon leave behind.

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