Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes, Part 3 – A difficult end to a cycle

This is the third and final episode in our series dedicated to the twelve seasons of the partnership between Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes. After a prosperous and dominant period, we now focus on the 2021-2024 seasons, which mark the end of King Lewis' reign.

The 2024 season opens with a shake-up that will have repercussions for Formula 1 for years to come: Lewis Hamilton, seven-time world champion, who has spent his entire F1 career with Mercedes, has confirmed his transfer to Scuderia Ferrari for 2025. This announcement transforms his final year wearing the silver helmet into a farewell tour, inviting us to look back on the highs and lows of his partnership with the German team.

In 2021, Hamilton started the season as the undisputed favorite, having won four consecutive titles. Winter testing hinted at the emergence of a new challenger in Max Verstappen, and the Dutchman quickly turned the season into a memorable duel. The two drivers shared nine wins between them in the first ten races, with their rivalry igniting in Bahrain and intensifying with a spectacular clash at Silverstone, where Verstappen's Red Bull crashed into the wall at Copse. Further incidents followed at Interlagos and Jeddah, each testing the drivers' nerves and sportsmanship, before the season's decisive showdown at Monza. A confusing braking maneuver in the Rettifilo chicane saw both cars slide onto the grass, leaving the championship undecided until the final lap in Abu Dhabi, where a controversial safety car decision handed Verstappen his first title and left Hamilton stunned on the podium.

The following year was marked by technical upheaval. Ground effect aerodynamics made a comeback and Mercedes unveiled the W13, a radical pontoon-less car, during pre-season testing. This bold design, praised for its originality, proved to be a handicap on the track. By adding George Russell to its driver lineup alongside Nico Rosberg and Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes hoped that this new talent could compensate for the car's shortcomings. While Russell consistently finished in the top five, Hamilton struggled with the car's incessant bouncing, while also suffering from severe back pain. A brief resurgence saw him finish on the podium five times in a row between Canada and Hungary, but the season ended with Mercedes losing the constructors' championship to Red Bull for the first time since 2013, and Hamilton finishing a title-less year, his first without a win since his debut.

The year 2023 offered a slight rebound. The team persisted with the W14's pontoon-less concept until Monaco, then abandoned it in favor of a more conventional configuration. Hamilton responded with eight top-six finishes in the first eight races, including three podiums and a pole position at the Hungarian Grand Prix, his first since Saudi Arabia in 2021 and, as it now appears, his last pole position in a Mercedes-liveried car. Despite the return of James Allison as technical director, the gap to Red Bull's RB19 remained significant, and Verstappen won his third consecutive championship. Yet Hamilton's consistency shone through: he was the only driver other than Verstappen to score points in every race of the season. Now, with a move to Ferrari on the horizon, the 2025 season represents Hamilton's last chance to add to his Mercedes trophy cabinet. After twelve years of partnership with Toto Wolff's team, the British star finds himself at a crossroads: will he end his career by restoring the Silver Arrows to their former glory, or will his next chapter at Maranello rewrite the history of a driver who has never driven anything other than a car powered by a Mercedes engine? The answer will determine not only his personal story, but also the balance of power in Formula 1 for the next decade.

Lewis Hamilton's 2024 season has turned into a study in extremes, a season that began with modest results, exploded into a summer of triumphs, and then ended with a whimper as he prepared to leave Mercedes for Ferrari. The year started slowly for the seven-time champion. After seven races, his best results were two sixth-place finishes, a stark contrast to the inconsistent performance of his new teammate's car, which even the engineers struggled to decipher. But July brought a spectacular turnaround. Hamilton scored three consecutive podium finishes, including two wins, and ended the month on a high note with a victory at his home circuit in Silverstone. That ninth win in Northamptonshire ended a two-and-a-half-year drought and reminded the paddock of the driver's enduring dominance.

Two weeks later, at Spa-Francorchamps, Hamilton took advantage of teammate George Russell's disqualification to claim his 105th Grand Prix victory, the last he would win in Mercedes red.

The end of the season painted a different picture. Qualifying sessions left Hamilton in a difficult position, and noticeable fatigue began to set in, which is rare in his career. Nevertheless, his driving talent remained among the best on the grid, and a podium finish in Las Vegas, as part of a Mercedes one-two, provided a fitting end to his time with the Silver Arrows. He finished the year in seventh place in the drivers' standings, the lowest position he has held since his debut.

With the Mercedes chapter coming to a close, Hamilton now turns his attention to the next stage of his illustrious career at Maranello. Lewis Hamilton statistics from 2021 to 2024