Lewis Hamilton's legendary farewell: 12 seasons of F1 dominance with Mercedes

Next year, Hamilton, who will turn 40, will be driving for Ferrari, “fulfilling a childhood dream" before he walks away from the sport, in which he holds every single major record, for good.

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At Abu Dhabi, the race unfolded for Hamilton like it has so many times before—a difficult qualifying saw the dreadlocked British man start 16th on the grid, before some sensational driving saw him pass car after car to take the chequered flag at fourth place.

After the race, Hamilton spoke about what it felt like to hear the famous “hammer time" instruction from Mercedes engineer Peter ‘Bono’ Bonnington for the final time.

“When (Bono) said it was ‘hammer time’, I did notice in the moment, I was like, ‘that’s the last time I’m going to hear that’," Hamilton told the press. “It really clicked for me in that moment. “Obviously I did the whole race, and there was so much to do in it, but just to be able to hold onto that moment, because it’s history now…"

As the race ended, Bono said over the radio, “Nice work Lewis, that’s a P4 mate, and that’s the end of an era." It brought tears to Hamilton’s face (the driver-focused on-board camera caught it). When he exited the car, Hamilton waved to the crowds, and then knelt beside the car, just looking at the machine.

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“I’m going to miss them—I can’t tell you how much I’m going to miss them, it’s going to be a huge amount," Hamilton said at the post-race press conference. “I’ve worked with them every day for the past 12 years. There’s a lot of love within this team, and that’s not going anywhere."

When Hamilton joined Mercedes in 2013, it was a something of a shock.

He had already been on the circuit for six years, driving for McLaren, and he had made his mark with one championship win for them. He was a rising star, clearly marked for greatness, and the sport’s first (and so far, only) black protagonist.

Why then was he moving from a storied team like McLaren to one that had barely any pedigree and had never won a world championship? Even his father, who doubled as his manager, reportedly opposed the move.

But Hamilton had been approached for the Mercedes role by none other than one of his childhood heroes, the three-time world champion and F1 legend Niki Lauda (who died in 2019). Lauda was persuasive, and one of the points he made was just how well Mercedes had done with the new engine specifications that the sport had mandated. The information turned out to be pure gold. Hamilton’s debut campaign for Mercedes in 2013 ended without a win, but the moment the 2014 season started with the new “hybrid V6" engine regulations, Hamilton and Mercedes were off to a flying start.

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Thus began a relationship that strengthened with each passing year. Hamilton’s driving nous grew better and better—he was a nerveless and ruthless over-taker, going wheel to wheel if needed, but mostly relying on impeccable timing and instinct. He was a smooth perfectionist behind the wheel, setting course records at the trickiest circuits, like his famed qualifying record at Singapore’s Marina Bay Street Circuit in 2018, widely considered an example of a “perfect" drive in F1. And he turned into a monster in adverse conditions like rain, mist, and burst tyres—in 2022 at the Silverstone circuit for the Great Britain GP, he managed to hold on to his lead driving most of the last lap with a blown front tyre—the thing that separates the good drivers from the great.

A decade of dominance in any sport needs an incredible drive for learning, re-learning, and keeping the hunger going, and Hamilton had plenty of that. He obsessed over his diet and training programmes, ensured a highly disciplined lifestyle on and off the track, and constantly updated himself on the use of data and video in training.

While Hamilton’s racing legacy with Mercedes is comparable to only one other legendary driver-constructor partnership—Michael Schumacher and Ferrari—there is something else that makes the British driver stand out. As the sport’s only black representative, Hamilton embraced his role and stood up to make political statements that transcended his sport. He was one of the most prominent faces of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, leading many of his fellow drivers into taking a knee before races. At his request, Mercedes changed their traditional silver livery to black (it remains black till date). At the Qatar GP in 2021, he sported a rainbow helmet, something he continued to do in countries where LGBTQ+ rights are disregarded. Hamilton also runs a charity that helps young driving aspirants from economically difficult backgrounds find their footing in motor sports.

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This is the legacy that Hamilton and Mercedes built together. The racing part of that legacy has been in decline over the past three seasons, with only two GP wins, both this year.

With Ferrari, Hamilton will be hoping to rectify that, and build on what he already is—the most successful driver the sport has seen.

Rudraneil Sengupta is the author of Enter the Dangal, Travels through India’s Wrestling Landscape.

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