Lewis Hamilton reacts to final Friday with Mercedes: “I enjoyed every moment of the day”. The words of Hamilton and Russell after Friday practice in Abu Dhabi.

Lewis Hamilton’s Final Weekend with Mercedes
It’s the final days with Mercedes, and Lewis Hamilton wants to savor every second. In Abu Dhabi, the seven-time world champion had a solid day—third in FP1 and fifth in FP2—putting himself in a good position for tomorrow. However, Sir Lewis knows well that the W15 cannot be fully trusted. And even if he didn’t know, the results in qualifying and the race would take a backseat: no matter what, Hamilton wants to close his chapter with the Brackley team with a smile.

Lewis Hamilton’s Words
“I really enjoyed the day; I had fun driving the car today and working with the guys in the garage. We still have work to do—the McLaren cars are still very fast, as are the Ferraris. We’re in the mix, but we need to find a bit more time per lap,” he commented. “I don’t intend to change the car too much tonight. Overall, my feeling with the car was good today. It’s never easy to gauge our pace in the long run, but it didn’t feel bad today, and I hope that’s a positive sign for us. Ultimately, we need to work on our qualifying pace, and I hope tomorrow we can be closer to those ahead of us.”

“The car felt better today. It wasn’t such a bad day. It was very surreal, and I tried to be as present as possible and enjoy every moment. I tried to capture the most important moments and savor them as much as I could before preparing and getting in the car. I want to channel all my emotions into the car and the team because I have so much love for them, and as always, I want to do well for them. This weekend, I have one last chance to give it my all.”

George Russell’s Words
“Today was a bit tough, but it’s only Friday. Even today, we tried many different things in preparation for next year, as this is the last chance to do so,” added George Russell, who finished fourth in the morning and 13th in the afternoon. “We wanted to push the boundaries a bit more with setup options to see if there’s anything more we can learn for 2025. As we saw, Lewis had some great laps today. However, as a team, we don’t seem to be on pace with the leaders in qualifying trim. McLaren, in particular, seems to be in a league of its own at the moment, and its pace in both sessions today showed that clearly. Tomorrow, I expect the Ferraris to be back in contention, but I hope we can make improvements overnight and be more competitive than we were today.”