Lewis Hamilton admits he 'massively underestimated' how difficult his Mercedes farewell year would be as he prepares for final race

Lewis Hamilton has admitted that he “massively underestimated” how difficult it would be to say a long goodbye to Mercedes after announcing his impending switch to Ferrari before the season had even begun, with the Briton stating that it has been a “very emotional year”.

After confirming back in February that he would make a shock move to the Scuderia in 2025, Hamilton faced the challenge of completing the 2024 campaign with the Silver Arrows despite both sides knowing that the partnership will come to an end following 12 years together.

Now Hamilton and the team are about to embark on their final race together in Abu Dhabi and, when quizzed about his emotions over this during Thursday’s media day, the seven-time world champion said: “Pretty calm at the moment. Feeling positive and excited just to give it all this weekend.

“Every moment, like through the year, every single race has been obviously the last time I'll race and be in that specific place with the team and I think today, already from the briefings that we've had, you're sitting there and you're realising these are the last moments with the team, which is… It's hard to describe the feeling.

“It's not the greatest, of course, but I think mostly I’m just really proud of what we've achieved, and I have so much pride in this team.”

ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - DECEMBER 05: Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Mercedes looks — Hamilton will embark on his final race as a Mercedes driver in Abu Dhabi

In terms of what his abiding memory will be from his extensive time with Mercedes, Hamilton responded: “I think it's the smiles, when we've had the success. I think it's those moments. Like I remember one particular engineer, for example, I remember our first win in Australia in 2014, I think it was Australia, and I just remember him being in tears when we were on the podium.

“It's those moments that I take with me. It's the emotions that we had in Silverstone this year. It's all the good bits. Naturally, you mostly remember the good bits. I'm just incredibly proud, but also just so grateful to every single individual, both that are here at the track, but also back at the factory that have just worked tirelessly and been supporting me for all these years from day one.”

However, when asked if it had proven difficult to manage his relationships within the team during 2024 given the knowledge that he would be leaving, the 39-year-old conceded: “I mean, the first meeting with Toto [Wolff] at the beginning of the year was awkward, of course.

“So it was awkward from the get-go, to the day after when I took some of the team paintballing and they had just found out. There's been loads of moments through the year… Yeah, I got lots of shots from people, loads of bruises! People went in on me that day!

“I think ultimately I anticipated it would be difficult, but massively underestimated how difficult it would be. And it was straining on the relationship very early on, [it] took time for people to get past it. Then just for my own self, 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.

ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - DECEMBER 05: Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Mercedes attends — Hamilton feels that he has not been at his best in terms of handling his emotions during the season

“And 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, and I'm not going to apologise for either because I'm only human and I don't always get it right – and I definitely would say this year's 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. I've built some incredible relationships.

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“If you imagine, when you're going through a season together with so many people, not only on those race weekends where you're riding the highs and lows together, but in their personal lives, through marriages, through divorces, through loss of family members, through cancer, through all sorts.

“You're going through these journeys with these people, so it's a really beautiful journey you go on together. And being that it was so long, the emotions run so deep.”