The first act of Lewis Hamilton’s final season with Mercedes in Formula 1 took place this Wednesday, at the team’s official presentation for 2024. The driver will leave after more than a decade, to join Ferrari next year.
During the launch event, the British driver did not hide his emotions, feeling privileged to be part of the work and excited about this beginning: ‘It’s obvious that it’s emotional. It’s very surreal to be here, considering that I arrived here in 2013 – it’s been 11 years with the team, I’m starting my 12th. It’s such a privilege to work with a group of people where you see the work they do throughout the winter, we’ve gone through this process over the past few years. You see a car coming together at the start of the year – it’s really the most exciting part of the season, when you see everyone at the launch’.
Hamilton then said: ‘This is the first time I’ve seen the car come together as a whole, but knowing that everything is under the hood – what people don’t see but George [Russell] and I live on the track – is exciting’.
Regarding what he is most focused on at the moment, the seven-time champion replied: ‘The focus throughout the entire winter training, first and foremost, is to put the team where we were in the past. We had these two difficult years, something that I believe was really a lesson for us. It helped us regroup. We had to review things and now we go through the important process – being very diligent with our work, understanding the data, understanding the car, maximizing the training’.
