Lewis Hamilton says the disappointing form on which he is ending his Mercedes career doesn’t “define the journey” he has been on during his 12 seasons with the team.
The seven-time world champion will drive in his final race for Mercedes at next weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix ahead of leaving the Silver Arrows to join Ferrari next season.
Hamilton’s penultimate outing for the Silver Arrows saw him finish outside the points in 12th after a tumultuous 57-lap race in Lusail in which he was hit with two sanctions by stewards – one for a jump start and then a second for speeding in the pit lane later in the race – and suffered a puncture.
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Lewis Hamilton apologises for the false start and pit lane incident but says the he and the Mercedes car ‘don’t get along’ after a 12th place finish in Qatar
“Even if it finishes like this weekend, I don’t think that defines the journey we have been on and the journey we have had but I will give it everything I can,” Hamilton told Sky Sports F1.
Hamilton has struggled badly in qualifying recently, failing to make the top five at each of the last five races and twice not even featuring in the top 10.
His Sundays have generally been far superior but on this occasion the errors spilled over. After being told of his drive-through penalty for pit-lane speeding, Hamilton asked Mercedes if he could retire his car, a request that was declined.
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Watch Lewis Hamilton’s false start at the Qatar Grand Prix
“It just didn’t really go that great, but these things happen,” Hamilton added.
“Don’t judge me by how many times I fall but I’m going to get up tomorrow and give it another go.
“The car and I don’t get along really that well. But we were very, very far off in the beginning and we didn’t have enough wing in to start with, the cars were quite different and it wasn’t really great to drive.
“But, my fault today so apologises to the team for the false start and then the pit-lane incident.”
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Watch Lewis Hamilton battle handling issues as George Russell loses track position after a disastrous pit lane
Hamilton admitted that he doesn’t have high hopes of a dramatic upturn in form in Abu Dhabi, but insisted that it is the approach to the weekend rather than the result that is important to him.
“I mean I don’t think we’re going to end up on a high,” he told the written media in Qatar.
“It’ll end and I think what’s important is how we turn up, we give it our best shot. I don’t anticipate particularly much better weekend than we’ve had in the past weekends but naturally I’ll try.
“Go in with low hopes and come out with a better result, then great, but it doesn’t really make a big difference either way. These last races don’t have an impact on everything we’ve done together.”
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Extended highlights of the Qatar Grand Prix from the Lusail International Circuit
Russell: Mercedes’ pace totally disappeared
Hamilton’s team-mate George Russell was unable to capitalise on his pole position as he was muscled out at the first corner by winner Max Verstappen, and then Lando Norris.
Running in third, Russell was the first of the front-runners to pit but an extremely slow stop saw him emerge in traffic and lose track position to McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, both Ferraris and Hamilton.
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George Russell says Mercedes ‘didn’t have the pace today’ as he drops from pole to P4 in a disappointing and frustrating race for Mercedes
While his hopes of repeating last week’s victory in Las Vegas were ruined, Russell was able to recover to fourth after Sainz and Hamilton suffered punctures and Norris was penalised for failing to slow under yellow flags.
“After the pit stop I couldn’t get back through Fernando (Alonso). I was doing the same pace as (Sauber’s) Zhou Guanyu,” Russell told Sky Sports F1.
“The speed we had on Friday and Saturday totally disappeared for both Lewis and I, so we need to understand why that was.
“P4 was probably a better result than we deserved.”
Watch the final race of the 2024 Formula 1 season – the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – live this coming week on Sky Sports F1, with Sunday’s race at 1pm. Get Sky Sports F1 or stream with NOW