Time for Reflection:

Lewis’ Final Mercedes Media Day in Abu Dhabi

Before all that, though – there was one final media day at Yas Marina. Lewis, the floor is yours….

‘Pride’ in the Team

“I am pretty calm at the moment. I feel positive and excited just to give it all this weekend. All the way through the year there have been moments at every single race that this will be last time I'll race and be in that specific place with the team.

“Today in the briefing I was sitting there and realising these are the last moments with the team. It's hard to describe the feeling. It's not the greatest, but I think mostly I’m just really proud of what we've achieved. And I have so much pride in this team.”

Lasting Memories

“I’ll remember the smiles, when we've had the success. I think it's those moments. I remember one particular engineer when we won a race in early 2014 was just in tears when we made it to the podium. It's those moments that I take with me, all the good bits – like Silverstone this year.

“Naturally, you mostly remember the good bits. I'm just incredibly proud, but also just so grateful to every single individual, both that are here at the track, but also back at the factory that have just worked tirelessly and been supporting me for all these years from day one.

“This one is much more emotional because I've been with the team so long and we've been through so much together.”

Fighting for Change

“I'm incredibly proud of the work that we've done at Mercedes, and the steps we have taken, as well as the investment from Mercedes to step up and be open to change.

“The team is far more diverse than it ever has been. It's far more inclusive, very open-minded. And our hope was that in doing so, the rest of the sport would follow, and this it has. We have recently seen Formula 1, the FIA, and all the teams realise the importance of it and get on board.

“That is one of the things I'm probably most proud of – being a part of sparking that. And I'm truly grateful for everyone that's now on board. And I feel like the sport then is moving in the right direction.”

The Last 10 Months

“The day after I told Toto, I took some of the team paintballing. And they had just found out. It was awkward, people went in on me that day!

“Ultimately, I anticipated it would be difficult, but massively underestimated how difficult it would be. And it was straining on the relationship very early on, took time for people to get past it.

“It’s been a very emotional year for me. I have not been at my best in handling and dealing with those emotions.

“So many of you [members of the media] have been here my whole career and would have seen the worst and best of me. I'm not going to apologise for either because I'm only human and I don't always get it right, and I would definitely say this year's been one of the worst in terms of handling that from my side, which I'll work on trying to be better at.

“But I hope the good and the highs far outweigh the negatives and how I've handled it or behaved. And as I said, I just remember the good times. I've built some incredible relationships.

“You're going through these journeys with these people together and that is really beautiful. And being that it was so long, the emotions run so deep.”

Impact on Others

George was also in reflective mood about Lewis’ farewell with the team in his media conference, having experienced three seasons with the seven-time world champion as his team-mate.

“Lewis is the sort of world champion who I aspire to be like. The way he fought Max in '21 was hard, very hard. It was fair, and never beyond the line,” he said.