It has been one of the longest and most successful partnerships in Formula 1 history, but it seems destined not to end as either side had hoped. Tomorrow, Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes will part ways after 12 seasons and six titles together, but it’s unlikely the seven-time champion will be battling at the front in his final race with the W15.
Qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix marred what had been a promising weekend for the future Ferrari driver, who appeared to have found good harmony with the car—so much so that in this morning’s FP3, he was the only one able to nearly match the pace of the McLarens. However, disaster struck in Q1 due to a combination of a strategic team error, sending him out last with no opportunity to correct mistakes, and an unfortunate incident: Kevin Magnussen’s Haas, trying to get out of the way, hit a marker post, which then got stuck under Hamilton’s car, making it undriveable in the final two corners.
Regardless of the incident with the Dane, team principal Toto Wolff took responsibility and apologized to the driver with whom he built Mercedes’ dominance during the hybrid era. Toto Wolff admitted he wanted to close this chapter in the best way possible, but a strategic planning mistake—one he called “stupid”—likely ruined the final chapter of their story together.
“I have to apologize to Lewis and to all the team members who worked hard to make this a great finale for him. He was the fastest with the setup we chose for the car, also as an experiment for next year, and we completely let him down. A stupid mistake, not sending him out earlier. Inexcusable. Rarely have I felt so low about what happened. It probably sums up the last few races we’ve had with him. But this is the worst part—it was idiocy,” Wolff said emotionally after qualifying.
“Maybe, if he hadn’t hit the marker post, it could have worked, but you don’t take such risks in Q1. We had the pace to advance, and then our most valuable driver, the greatest in this sport, is out in Q1 because we made an amateurish mistake. This doesn’t tarnish the legacy we have with him, but all I can do is apologize.”
For his part, Hamilton, while clearly disappointed, was philosophical in his reaction to the day’s events. Still, it was evident that the setback was hard to digest, especially since he felt the race pace looked promising.
“It’s just my bad luck, but that’s okay. I tried, we tried with the setup, and the car felt good in FP3. I really thought fighting for the podium was possible this weekend, but we didn’t optimize the timing in the session. I was the last to go out on track and ended up behind one of the Alpines, so I ran out of time. But I don’t feel particularly emotional; I’m quite calm,” Lewis Hamilton said.
As for the race, the outlook isn’t very favorable: “Overtaking tomorrow won’t be easy. Now I have to work on the strategy, and instead of fighting for the podium, we’ll see how far we can climb. If I can make it into the top 10, that would be fantastic. I’m still very grateful to the team… The car has been completely different this weekend, much nicer to drive. My hopes were high, but it is what it is, and I’ll try to fight back,” he concluded.
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