Lewis Hamilton would have had a fairytale ending in mind when he took on his final race to end his Mercedes career.
But instead he has hit a buffer before the main chequered flag has been raised. The seven-time F1 champ had to settle for 18th in Q1 at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi on Saturday after his car was hit by a bollard. Replays show the debris get stuck under his Mercedes racer which will have cost the Brit a vital performance as drivers vie for grid positions. The bollard was knocked out of place by Kevin Magnussen, also qualifying for the final time with his Haas team, who had pulled over to the side of the track to let Hamilton by.
“I messed that lap up big time guys,” Hamilton admitted over the radio, seemingly unaware that he had been hampered. He went on to add: “That was bad, man. Jesus,” to which team principal Toto Wolff replied: “Yes, it was.”
Hamilton had decided before the current season even began that he wanted to join Ferrari for 2025. In Abu Dhabi this weekend, he admitted that he had “massively underestimated” how difficult it was going to be to carry on as normal with everyone else at Mercedes knowing that he was heading to one of their rivals. Lewis Hamilton leaves Mercedes after 12 years, 246 races, 84 victories (85 if he can pull off one in the Middle East) and a staggering six drivers’ championships.