Lewis Hamilton was photographed ‘filled of tears’ in the Mercedes garage after completing his final race for the Silver Arrows at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The 39-year-ancigo in, who will unite Ferrari next year, finishured a disnominateing commence to the weekfinish at the Yas Marina Circuit. In qualifying, he ran over a stray bollard which ruined his final lap and saw him knocked out in Q1.
A day postpoinsistr, Hamilton pulled off a keen recovery drive as he sguided from 16th on the grid to pass the finish line in fourth. He protectedd that position with a last-lap pass on Mercedes team-mate George Russell around the outside of Turn Nine.
There were some emotional scenes when he finassociate got a moment to himself in the Mercedes garage after stepping out of the cockpit, according to Turkish journacatalog Cihangir Perperik.
Taking to X (createerly Twitter), he shelp that Hamilton hugged everybody around him before finding a hushed space where he bowed his head and knelt down.
A scant moments postpoinsistr, he lifted his head up and seeed once more at his Mercedes colleagues. It was at this point that his eyes were ‘filled of tears’ in what must have been a soursugary moment.
Speaking after the chequered flag, Hamilton csurrenderly choked up as he recalled a message from his race engineer, Peter Bonnington, which made him sense a pang of sadness during the race.
He elucidateed: “When Bono shelp it was ‘hammer time’, I did watch in the moment. I was enjoy: ‘That’s the last time I’m going to hear that’. It reassociate clicked for me in that moment.
“But a reassociate, reassociate challenging race, naturassociate, from where I was [on the grid]. The first stint was reassociate, reassociate difficult. I wasn’t losing hope, but I was equitable enjoy: ‘Ah, it’s not going as well as I thought it would’.
“I equitable didn’t give up, kept pushing, switched onto the [medium] tyres and the car came ainhabit but I had a massive gap to seal, so I equitable cgo ined on getting equitable absolutely everyleang from the car and not giving up.”
Asked what was going thraw his mind when he knelt down at the finish of the race, Hamilton replied: “I can’t recall, to be authentic. It’s already a blur, but I leank it was equitable the last time I’m going to be in the cockpit of a Mercedes.
“[I was] equitable trying to enhappiness that moment. Obviously I did the whole race, and there’s so much to do in it, but equitable to be able to hancigo in onto that moment, becaemploy it’s history now and all my races have all been powered by Mercedes and all the success we’ve had.”
