Lewis Hamilton will go down as one of the greatest Formula 1 drivers of all time, no matter what happens in the rest of his career. The Stevenage ace boasts seven world championship wins and a host of records in F1, many of which may never be beaten, or certainly not for a long time. However, he will turn 40 at the start of 2025 and he is certainly reaching the final years of his career as a Formula 1 driver.
He has not yet turned the final page on that book but he has, perhaps, finished the penultimate chapter. After 12 seasons with Mercedes, he has almost certainly raced his last Grand Prix for the team. His spell brought six of his seven world titles and in an eight-year spell between 2014 and 2021 he finished no worse than second in the Drivers’ Championship standings.
The team have not been quite good enough for some years now and that runners-up spot in 2021 is his highest finish since winning the title 12 months earlier. He went winless in both 2022 and 2023, before finally getting back on the highest step of the podium twice last term. However, he also finished seventh in the Drivers’ Championship, his worst result ever.
He bowed out at the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix with a battling performance but not the podium he hoped for. The race on the 8th of December saw him finish fourth, ahead of Mercedes teammate and compatriot George Russell, though the younger driver finished one place and 23 points better off in the seasonal standings.
As a team, Mercedes were down in fourth in the Constructors’ Championship, a real indication of just how far off the pace the car was. In an unusual season Red Bull, who provided the runaway world champion in Max Verstappen, only finished third, with McLaren first and Ferrari second. Hamilton will drive in the famous red of Ferrari for the 2025 season, having signed a deal worth in excess of £40m a year. The agreement shocked the sport and is believed to be a three-year agreement, taking the Brit well into his 40s.
It remains to be seen what the “Ferrari chapter” will hold, but let’s take a look back on Hamilton’s glorious dozen years with Mercedes.
Mercedes Move a Shock Back in 2013
There is a certain synchronicity in Hamilton’s latest move because it mirrors his initial move to Mercedes way back in 2013. The Brit had been nurtured by Ron Denis for many years, the McLaren Team Principle and future CEO signing him to McLaren’s Driver Development Program when he was just 13. Hamilton narrowly missed out on the world title in his debut season in F1 with the team in 2007 but did claim glory a year later.
He was seen as a McLaren man who might stay with the team for a long, long time, so it was a real shock when he announced he was leaving at the end of the 2012 campaign. He left then, as now, after a number of years of not quite having a car that could challenge for the title. In 2013, he replaced the retiring Michael Schumacher at Mercedes and in 2025 he moves to Ferrari, where Schuey won five of his World Drivers’ Championships.
Slow Start
Hamilton’s first season with his new team was underwhelming. He had left McLaren dissatisfied with finishing fifth or fourth in the four seasons that followed his first world title win. However, the switch to Mercedes did nothing to improve things, the Brit coming in fourth once again and winning just one Grand Prix.
Red Bull were the dominant team at this time, with Sebastian Vettel winning four world titles in a row between 2010 and 2013 inclusive. In Hamilton’s debut campaign for Mercedes, he trailed Vettel by over 200 points. Fernando Alonso was second for Ferrari, with Mark Weber’s Red Bull third and it was clear that Lewis’s new team had a lot of work to do.
Golden Era for Hamilton and Mercedes
Improvement was expected with various changes helping but even so, for the driver and team to make such a dramatic leap forward was something of a surprise. Hamilton went from one win and five podiums in 2013 to 11 wins and 16 top-three finishes a year later. He won his second world title six years after his first.
In 2015 he retained his title with 10 more Grands Prix victories, Mercedes again landing the Constructors’ Championship. His main rival at this time was teammate Nico Rosberg, the duo recording a massive total of 12 1-2 finishes during the season. In 2016 Mercedes again easily defended the Constructors prize but Rosberg got the better of Hamilton in a thrilling season-long battle. The Brit won the last four races but with Rosberg second each time the German pipped the defending champion by five points in the end.
That was a rare blip for the fastest man in Stevenage though, as he then took World Championship glory four years in a row to tie Schumacher on seven career titles. All four victories were achieved by a wide margin as Hamilton firmly cemented his place as an all-time great of F1. He obviously had a fantastic car underneath him but even so, his driving in this era was phenomenal, most notably in a shortened 2020 campaign where he won 11 of 16 races.
Decline Follows
The world was, of course, a strange place in 2020 and for a couple of years after but by 2021 it was clear there was a new kid on the block. Hamilton had enjoyed great battles with any number of drivers over the years, including Alonso, Vettel and Rosberg, but in 2021 it was Max Verstappen who edged him out.
The end to the season could not have been more dramatic, or controversial, but ultimately Hamilton had to settle for second despite claiming eight race wins. That brilliant challenge was as good as things got during his final years with Mercedes though, as he failed to win a single Grand Prix in 2022 or 2023.
In 2024, in a sub-standard car, he showed he is still capable of moments of brilliance and real fight. However, can he do it consistently? Can the move to Ferrari help him land another Drivers’ World Championship and move clear of Schumacher? We shall see!