Lewis Hamilton says there is nothing bittersweet about his upcoming departure from Mercedes as the team has made such progress that he is able to leave with more highlights in his final season.
Mercedes has struggled under the latest set of regulations, scoring just one victory in the first 54 races of this era across the past two and half seasons. Those statistics have been turned on their head by back-to-back wins for the team in the past two races, with Hamilton taking his first victory since 2021 at the British Grand Prix, something he says looked so unlikely earlier this year that he feared would mean he wouldn’t get a win to sign off with before his move to Ferrari.
“I think when we started the season and we had a car where we weren’t going anywhere near Red Bull, for example, anywhere near looking like we would ever get a win through the year, that for me felt like it would be kind of bittersweet at the end of the season, where you’ve not had something like [Silverstone],” Hamilton said.
“And the fact that we’ve really all come together, everyone’s done such a great job to get the car into a place where we’re feeling much more comfortable and really [deliver] changes from the foundation from last year. So not leaving on a low, but leaving on a high, which has been our goal.
“There’s still a long, long way to go, but the car, by no means, is the car the quickest car on the grid right now. I think we are super close, and I think hopefully with a couple of, with the next upgrade perhaps, we will be in an even stronger position to really, really be fighting at the front more consistently.”
Hamilton’s stance was one echoed by team principal Toto Wolff, who says there is no sense of regret that the partnership with Hamilton will come to an end following this season, just a focus on finding more performance for the current drivers.
“In my life I’ve no regrets because you cannot have regrets,” Wolff said. “We are adults. We take decisions. We go for it. That’s the most important. We’ve got to finish this season on a high and provide a car that enables them to win and the team to score points in the constructors’ championship. And it is what it is.”