“I’ve not been at my best in dealing with those emotions” : Lewis Hamilton ahead of his final race with Mercedes at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
The dreaded day for Mercedes fans is upon them, as Lewis Hamilton begins his preparations for his last race with the Silver Arrows, after 12 long years of winning world championships and building a legacy with them.
But the seven-time world champion has only recently come across his feelings of what it actually is like to leave after the final race ends. The Briton was already a Ferrari man even before the start of the season, and since then has had his hands full from something or the other.
But now that the realisation is starting to hit, Hamilton recently opened up about how he underestimated the emotional level of difficulty of leaving the German team behind after so many successful years with the people whose faces he has seen every day, starting from Team Principal and CEO Toto Wolff.
“The first meeting with Toto at the beginning of the year was awkward, of course it was awkward from the get-go.” Hamilton said.
“The day after I took the team paintballing and they had just found out … I got a lot of shots and had loads of bruises. People went in on me that day! I anticipated it would be difficult but massively underestimated how difficult. It was straining on the relationship very early on. Took time for people to get past it.” the Briton revealed that it was initially hard for the people close to him to take in his departure from Mercedes.
Besides other people, the Briton himself has not had the greatest of seasons due to poor mistakes during qualifications or simply because his car was not up to the consistent standards. Still, Hamilton was able to win two Grand Prix and has showed glimpses of his usual self throughout the year. But he admits that on a personal note, he was not at his best and wants us to understand his humanity, just like every other person.
“For my own self, it’s been a very emotional year for me and I think I’ve not been at my best in dealing with those emotions,” he added. “I think you’ve all seen the worst of me and the best of me and I’m not going to apologise for either because I’m only human and I’m not always going to get it right.”
“I would definitely say this year has been one of the worst in terms of handling it from my side, which I’ll try to be better at. I hope the good and the highs far outweigh the negatives in terms of how I’ve behaved.” Hamilton explained.
Lewis Hamilton also acknowledged the support he has received from people close throughout his career, and is thankful for them in being a part of his illustrious journey.
“I just remember the good times and I’ve built some incredible relationships. When you go through a season together with so many people, not only on those weekends you are riding highs and lows together but also in their personal lives, through marriages, through divorces, through loss of family members, through cancer, through all sorts.”
“You are going through all these moments with people and it’s a really beautiful journey you go on together. Being there for so long, the emotions run so deep.” the Briton said.
With Lewis Hamilton’s prime years behind him, he will leave a part of him at Mercedes behind as well, but next year will offer us something much more than the Briton just having a change of uniform colours, as he will attempt to start his journey with the Italian team in the best way possible, by breaking the record of the number of world championships.
