Hamilton “massively underestimated” how hard final Mercedes season would be

Lewis Hamilton has admitted that he underestimated simply how troublesome his closing season with Mercedes can be from an emotional standpoint.

The seven-time world champion revealed firstly of the 12 months that he can be leaving the German producer for Ferrari, ending what can have been a 12-year partnership.

Whereas it was hoped getting the information out early would enable Hamilton and Mercedes to place apart any future hypothesis and give attention to delivering on monitor, the marketing campaign has been more difficult than each of them anticipated.

Hamilton has confessed forward of his closing race weekend that from the second of the “awkward” dialog with crew boss Toto Wolff to inform him he was leaving, issues have proved to be tense.

“I feel finally I anticipated it could be troublesome, however massively underestimated how troublesome it could be,” he stated. “It was straining on the connection very early on. It took time for individuals to get previous it.

“After which only for my very own self, it has been a really emotional 12 months for me. I feel I’ve not been at my finest in dealing with and coping with these feelings.”

Hamilton thinks that the size of the difficulties he confronted in coping with it this 12 months meant at instances that folks noticed the worst of him.

“I feel this 12 months, and so a lot of you’ve got been right here my entire profession, so a few of you, I feel, you have all seen the worst of me and seen the very best of me,” he stated.

“I am not going to apologise for both as a result of I am solely human and I do not at all times get it proper. I positively would say this 12 months’s been one of many worst by way of dealing with that from my facet, which I will work on attempting to be higher at.

“However I hope the nice and the highs far outweigh the negatives and the way I’ve dealt with it or behaved.”

Whereas current outcomes haven’t been what he nor Mercedes wished, Hamilton says he’ll depart the crew on Sunday solely with recollections of the highs.

“I simply keep in mind the nice instances,” he added. “I’ve constructed some unimaginable relationships.

“We have gone by [so much]. In the event you think about, once you’re going by a season along with so many individuals, not solely on these race weekends the place you are using the highs and lows collectively, however of their private lives, by marriages, by divorces, by lack of members of the family, by most cancers, by all kinds.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W05, celebrates

Picture by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Pictures

“You are going by these journeys with these individuals. So it is a actually stunning journey you go on collectively. And being that it was so lengthy, the feelings run so deep.”

Talking about what the abiding reminiscence of his 246 races along with Mercedes can be, Hamilton singled out their win on the 2014 Bahrain GP.

“I feel it is the grins, once we’ve had the success,” he stated. “I feel it is these moments.

“I keep in mind one specific engineer [Aldo Costa] at our win in Australia [actually Bahrain – ed] in 2014. I simply keep in mind him being in tears once we have been on the rostrum. It is these moments that I take with me. It is the feelings that we had in Silverstone this 12 months. It is all the nice bits.

“Naturally, you largely keep in mind the nice bits. I am simply extremely proud, but in addition simply so grateful to each single particular person, each which might be right here on the monitor, but in addition again on the manufacturing facility which have simply labored tirelessly and been supporting me for all these years from day one.”