Lewis Hamilton makes ‘bittersweet’ Mercedes exit claim as Ferrari move looms

Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton on the podium.

Lewis Hamilton’s victory at Silverstone isn’t making him pang with regret over his decision to depart for Ferrari at the conclusion of the 2024 season.

The seven-time F1 World Champion hadn’t won a race since the tail end of the 2021 F1 championship, meaning it was over two and a half years until he tasted victory again as he crossed the line to win his home race, the 2024 British Grand Prix, last weekend.

Lewis Hamilton: No win would have been bittersweet

Hamilton’s win, his first of the ground-effect era ushered in for 2022, meant he broke a few personal records: including being the first driver to have raced in over 300 races to win a Grand Prix.

The victory comes at a time when Mercedes‘ form is very much in the ascendancy, having had a quiet start to the year with a grumpy W15.

Updates and tweaks have widened the operating window of the car, which showed flashes of speed right from the start of the year, and turned it into a race winner at the Austrian Grand Prix.

But while fortune had been needed to win in Austria, courtesy of the collision between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris up front, no fortune was necessary at Silverstone – Hamilton and Mercedes came out on top after the Brackley-based squad locked out the front row before seeing off a stern challenge from McLaren in the tricky changeable conditions.

Celebrating victory in the pitlane, Hamilton’s relief was palpable as he and his father Anthony emotionally hugged as he climbed from the car, with an exuberant Hamilton basking in the adulation of his home crowd after winning the British Grand Prix for the ninth time – another record set on the day.

Speaking to the media after the race, Hamilton denied that the feeling of victory was bittersweet as, in a little under six months’ time, he’ll walk away from a resurgent Mercedes in order to join Ferrari – the Italian team’s form being quite sporadic despite their strong start to the year.

“No,” he said, when asked if his victory was tinged with realising how he’s walking away to join a rival team.

“I think when we started the season and we had a car where we weren’t going anywhere near Red Bull, for example, anywhere near looking like we would ever get a win through the year, that for me felt like it would be kind of bittersweet at the end of the season, where you’ve not had something like today.

“And the fact that we’ve really all come together, everyone’s done such a great job to get the car into a place where we’re feeling much more comfortable and really changes from the foundation from last year. So not leaving on a low, but leaving on a high, which has been our goal.”

Hamilton also said that, despite the W15 coming alive at Silverstone, he doubts it is the outright quickest on the grid.

“There’s still a long, long way to go, but the car, by no means, is the car the quickest car on the grid right now,” he said.

“I think we are super close, and I think hopefully with a couple of, with the next upgrade perhaps, we will be in an even stronger position to really, really be fighting at the front row more consistently.”

Lewis Hamilton ‘grateful’ for Mercedes partnership

Having entered F1 in 2007 with McLaren, then Mercedes’ works partner, Hamilton’s collaboration with Mercedes stems back over two decades.

Having won every single one of his record 104 Grand Prix victories with Mercedes power, Hamilton said he will be eternally grateful for the contribution the manufacturer has had in his success.

“I’m very fortunate to have been a part of Mercedes for this, you know, this last 18 years,” he said.

“Actually more than that, 20 plus years, because they started supporting me when I was 13.

“So, but obviously every Grand Prix win that I’ve had, the 104 has been with Mercedes, powered by Mercedes, and something that I will always be grateful to have been a part of.”