There are dates in the history of sport to mark with a red pen on the calendar because they represent the end of an era. In fact, on Thursday, Mercedes officially announced that Lewis Hamilton will leave the Brackley team at the end of the season, thus concluding a relationship that lasted over ten years dotted with great successes achieved together.
The Englishman has in fact activated a release option in the contract announced last August and 2024 will therefore be his last at the helm of the Silver Arrows. The news brings to an end what is currently a 17-year relationship in F1 with Mercedes-Benz, considering the years spent in McLaren powered by Mercedes-Benz engines.
“I have spent 11 incredible years with this team and I am very proud of what we have achieved together. Mercedes has been part of my life since I was 13. It is a place where I grew up, so making the decision to leave was a one of the hardest ones I've ever had to take,” Hamilton explained.
“But the time has come to take this step and I am excited to take on a new challenge. I will be forever grateful for the incredible support of my Mercedes family, especially Toto for his friendship and leadership, and I love the “I am 100% committed to delivering the best possible performances this season and to making my final year with the Silver Arrows one to remember,” added the Englishman.
Toto Wolff wanted to underline how Hamilton was able to make history with Mercedes, achieving important sporting goals: “In terms of the team-driver partnership, our relationship with Lewis has become the most successful the sport has ever seen, and this is something we can look back on with pride; Lewis will always be an important part of Mercedes motorsport history. However, we knew that our partnership would reach a certain point, and that day has come. We accept Lewis' decision to seek a new challenge, and our opportunities for the future are exciting to contemplate. But for now we still have a season to go and we are focused on racing to deliver a positive 2024.”
The Briton arrived at the Star's court way back in 2013 after finishing his adventure in McLaren, the team that had accompanied him in the preparatory teams and in his first six seasons in Formula 1 after making his debut in 2007. However, even in past years in Woking, the link with Mercedes was always alive, given that the McLaren single-seaters were powered by the engines designed and built by Stella in Brixworth.
Over the course of the eleven seasons spent so far at Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton has been able to achieve six drivers' world titles, also helping to win eight constructors' championships together with Nico Rosberg and Valtteri Bottas. After a 2013 of transition, the first world championship with the Brackley team arrived immediately in 2014, the opening year of the hybrid era, in a challenge that went up to the last round of the championship in Abu Dhabi, a stage that that year it was worth double the points compared to other Grands Prix.
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG
Success repeated the following year too, only to be interrupted at the end of 2016, when the internal challenge saw teammate Nico Rosberg prevail, who, also in that case, managed to win his first and only world championship title in the final event at Yas Marina in a GP that was tense until the checkered flag. However, once his dream was fulfilled, the German decided to retire, leaving room for the arrival of the Finn Valtteri Bottas, who then remained at Mercedes for five seasons, until the end of 2021.
The 2017 regulation change, with faster cars with greater aerodynamic load, also brought new challenges, bringing Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari into the world conversation. Together with the German from Heppenheim, the Red Team was able to put a driver-single-seater combination on the track with which it tried for a long time to challenge the British champion, at least until the Asian triptych, where accidents and reliability problems definitively put an end to any ambition. An open challenge was also in 2018, considered by many to be one of Hamilton's best years in the top flight, which saw him triumph by winning his fifth championship, on a par with another iconic figure of sport and Mercedes history, Juan Manuel Fangio.
Victories which then extended into 2019 and 2020, with a Mercedes supremacy that was difficult to undermine, but which led him to achieve important goals on a statistical level, such as one hundred successes in F1 and seven world titles, on a par with Michael Schumacher. The year of the pandemic, with a distorted calendar and a car painted black to support the civil struggles so dear to Lewis, was however the last in a long series of successes: to rewrite history, which until a few minutes after the flag checkered seemed already sculpted, it was that much disputed last lap of Abu Dhabi 2021, which opened the Max Verstappen era which then continued in 2022 and 2023.
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-AMG F1, celebrates after taking victory and his 7th world title
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
After a winter of understandable silence, Hamilton returned to the starting line with new hopes and renewed confidence in a W13 project which, however, proved to be anything but competitive. Following the progress made in that season, Mercedes decided to focus on the same concept again for 2023, but quickly realized that it had to follow another path to regain that lost speed. Even the British champion himself understood this, who during the winter had insistently pushed to modify some characteristics of the single-seater, including the driving position, considered too advanced, albeit with limited success. Changes that will only be made to the 2024 project, which should be revealed at the Valentine's Day presentation at Silverstone.
In mid-2023, Hamilton extended his contract with Mercedes by signing a two-year deal, which however consisted of a one-year deal (2024) with an option for the next championship, 2025. However, this left the door open to different options, which materialized with farewell.
The new season, which will start in a few weeks, will therefore be the last with the colors of Mercedes, thus putting an end to a story that lasted more than ten years. 2025 will represent the beginning of a new adventure and a radical turning point, not only for Hamilton, but also for Formula 1, this time with the colors of Ferrari. Lewis will also find a figure who accompanied him on his journey in the minor categories, Frederic Vasseur, who had been his Team Principal in ASM and ART in 2005 and 2006, years in which he won the title in Formula 3 Euro Series and GP2.
The decision to change direction represents both a new stimulus for the Briton, but also a big negative blow for the Star, which loses its most representative champion.
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