The long goodbye: How looming Mercedes exit is starting to hit Lewis Hamilton hard

The reality of his looming Mercedes departure appeared to hit Lewis Hamilton hard, but the seven-time F1 World Champion’s passion clearly remains intact.

Hamilton confirmed a switch to Ferrari for F1 2025 way back in January, meaning a full season swansong with the team he has led so convincingly for over 10 years.

Lewis Hamilton’s emotions on display as his seat is filled

The fact Hamilton and Ferrari announced the switch even before the F1 2024 season began could have led to some awkwardness between the seven-time F1 World Champion and his team but, to both side’s credit, there has been little sign of this even as the process of isolating Hamilton from F1 2025 decision-making and technical processes has begun.

The resurgence of Mercedes with the W15 has seen Hamilton become a race winner again, with his British Grand Prix victory a reminder of what he’s capable of when the equipment under him is capable of the job.

This resurgence is perhaps something Hamilton didn’t foresee happening, as the Brackley-based squad has managed to become a genuine contender for victories once again and now has a car capable of being the outright quickest if things come together over a weekend.

It’s a far cry from the situation Hamilton was in when he signed for Ferrari , coming off the back of a troubled two years with grumpy machinery.

The chance to start afresh with a Ferrari team who, in 2023, had the legs on Mercedes, was too good an opportunity to miss – especially as Hamilton’s contract terms weren’t quite as lengthy as he’d maybe hoped for.

But the move to Ferrari was still almost 12 months away when Hamilton signed, and things have changed since then. Mercedes is properly quick, the team understands the car, and Ferrari, while solid, still seems to lack the final ingredient on the technical front – not helped by recent departures like Enrico Cardile.

At best, based on current form, the switch to Ferrari is a sideways one and the end of his time with Mercedes is rapidly hoving into view.

All the uncertainties and doubts of his big career dice roll are becoming very tangible, and the fact his number of race weekends left with Mercedes has dropped into the single digits heading to the Monza weekend won’t have escaped him.

While Hamilton has asserted he has no regrets about his decision to leave, his inability to avoid wearing his heart on his sleeve betrayed him on Saturday at Monza.

After months of speculation, it was finally confirmed that Kimi Antonelli, the team’s 17-year-old protege and someone who team boss Toto Wolff enjoys a paternal-like relationship with, would take over Hamilton’s seat and, with it, reality seemed to hit Hamilton like a ton of bricks.

The team that he commanded, his people, the warm and cosy environment with which he was so intrinsically linked for over 10 years, all of that is being taken away from him. In its place might be a racing driver’s nirvana but, before that, he has to negotiate months, perhaps years, of finding his feet with an entirely different culture, language, ethos, prestige, and skillset.

There’s nothing comfortable about what he’s doing, which deserves commendation for bravery, but all the self-doubts and stomach knots he is no doubt experiencing were unmasked in the aftermath of the Antonelli announcement.

Unseen and staying away from the media glare that focused on Mercedes’ hospitality unit in the Monza paddock, being the outsider of the new happy family coming together at Mercedes – both Antonelli and George Russell are products of the Mercedes’ driver programme – underlined to Hamilton that this really is it – there’s no more room at the inn.

What had been a nebulous concept of leaving the team and being replaced is now very real, and there’s no turning back.

“I’ve known for ages, so…” he replied to PlanetF1.com when asked about his feelings on seeing his seat filled.

“I knew it would be announced this morning. I definitely woke up and it was very, very, very surreal to just have, at least officially confirmed, my seat is going that I held onto for so long.

“So it was quite emotional this morning, but I’m really, really happy for Kimi and for this team – I know Kimi is gonna do a great job.”

Expanding on the emotions he’s been feeling, Hamilton confirmed he hadn’t seen any of the imagery from the media sessions confirming Antonelli, which seems a defence mechanism against the sadness he admits has been building through the year.

“It’s been there all year. Every single race you turn up,” he said.

“I love my team so much. We have been through a hell of a lot together so it will be emotional every single race.

“Because every race we do is the last time at that particular place. Every race we get closer and closer to the last time I’ll be in that Mercedes. It’s going to be tough, but my focus is just to do my best job for the team and to finish on a high.”

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Aging is a privilege, and a cruel mistress

The fact Hamilton also struggled for single-lap pace en route to sixth place on the grid, something which isn’t particularly unusual over the past two years, also added to his frustrations.

Once the hot young talent on the grid, Hamilton can see how, almost 20 years after his own incredible debut, time is marching on like the relentless b*tch she really is.

It’s often said that, as a driver ages, it’s the single-lap pace that gets away first – those last few tenths that the young and brave can deliver without a second thought as their neurons fire just that infinitesimal fraction of a second faster.

“I’ve got to find myself in qualifying somehow. My race pace is great, but I have to figure out how to get back my old self,” Hamilton despondently said.

The problem for Lewis is that this is a task that only gets more difficult with every day that passes, not easier. With his 40th birthday not far away, biology will always play its part.

Regardless of how good Hamilton still is, no matter how he can call upon his vast experience and intuition, he will know, deep down, the driver he was 10 years would beat him to pole position, and there’s absolutely nothing he can do to stop that decline.

It’s hard not to feel sorry for Hamilton – after all, it’s only human to feel the doubts and worries of getting older and taking risks and getting out of your comfort zone. What could be more comfortable than the team which has been moulded around him since the end of 2012, a team where he knows every face and bends to his whims?

Perhaps Hamilton, self-confident as he is, thought he could avoid all these emotions and concerns given the superhuman abilities he has behind the wheel.

This weekend appears to mark the culmination of all the self-doubt and worry the entirely human Hamilton really has, and his admission that his team – who will be rivals in six months time – deserve better, was an eye-opener.

“Furious. Absolutely furious, because I could have been pole,” Hamilton said.

“I think I could have been on the front row, at least on the front row, and I just didn’t do the job at the end.

“Lost a tenth and a half in Turn 1 and 2, and then I lost another tenth at the last corner. So no one to blame but myself. Qualifying has been my weakness for a minute now, and I can’t figure it out. So I’ll keep trying.

The car has been feeling so much better than the last race, and the team deserves better – maybe they’ll get that with Kimi.”

But, as despondent and morose as Hamilton is being, and even his powers are waning as a qualifier, he remains fearsomely potent in racing. His relentless ability shines through and there are still very few better at being the hunter stalking its prey. Like Fernando Alonso, four years his senior, their ability to maximise a car’s potential over a 200-mile race remains untouchable.

It’s time for Lewis to cling to this positive, as well as the fact that he is already being embraced by the tifosi – even while still racing for a Ferrari rival.

The warmth of the Italian crowds at Imola and Monza have made Hamilton smile and this will increase 100-fold next season as he gives his all for what should be an intense and emotional final few years in F1.