Lewis Hamilton’s incredible journey with the Mercedes engine

Since the start of his Formula 1 career, Lewis Hamilton has always raced with a Mercedes engine, whether for McLaren or the Stuttgart-based team, and has risen to the top of motorsport, forever linking him to the brand's star. However, in 2025, he will swap the gray of the Silver Arrows for the red of Maranello.

From the moment it appeared on the starting grid in 2014, the hybrid engine not only changed the rules of the game, but also rewrote Lewis Hamilton's destiny. The British driver, who had already won a world title with McLaren in 2008, found himself at the heart of a technical revolution that would transform Mercedes, a brand that had long remained in the shadows, into a dominant force in the sport.

Hamilton's rise began in 2007, after winning the GP2 championship and benefiting from Ron Dennis' support since the age of twelve. He made his Formula 1 debut with McLaren, equipped with Mercedes engines, sharing the cockpit with two-time champion Fernando Alonso. The rookie immediately caused a sensation, fighting for the title until the last race of his first season and signaling the arrival of a new contender. A year later, at the age of twenty-three, Hamilton became the youngest driver to win the world championship, consolidating a partnership with McLaren that seemed destined for a long period of supremacy. However, the 2009 regulatory overhaul, which introduced a radically new chassis and aerodynamic package, saw the team's MP4/24 fall behind the new Brawn GP and Red Bull cars. Despite victories in Hungary and Singapore, Hamilton was outpaced by Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel, and from 2009 to 2012, Red Bull's dominance limited his achievements to a handful of pole positions and podium finishes.

The turning point did not come on the track, but on the phone. In 2013, Niki Lauda, then a non-executive director at Mercedes, persuaded Hamilton to leave McLaren, where he had been for a long time, to join the German team that had just made its return to the sport as a constructor after a 55-year hiatus. Critics called it a risky gamble: Mercedes didn't have Red Bull's recent track record, while McLaren was starting to climb back up the pecking order. What they forgot was Mercedes' secret weapon: a hybrid powertrain that would make its debut the following season. When the 2014 season began, the V6 turbo hybrid engine combined with sophisticated energy recovery systems gave Mercedes an unprecedented advantage. From that moment on, the Silver Arrows became the benchmark, winning seven consecutive drivers' titles (including five one-two finishes) and eight constructors' championships through 2021. Hamilton, now the team's star driver, shattered long-standing records for the most wins, pole positions, podium finishes, and laps led, eventually equaling Michael Schumacher's six world titles.

Even the brief setback of 2016, when teammate Nico Rosberg pipped Hamilton to the title, did not dent the driver's status as the benchmark of the hybrid era. Attempts by Ferrari with Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull with Daniel Ricciardo to break Mercedes' stranglehold failed, highlighting the extent of the technical advantage.

The tide finally turned in 2021. After a closely contested season, Max Verstappen overtook Hamilton on the final lap of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix—a race that remains controversial—and clinched the title, ending the British driver's reign at the top of the sport. The return to ground-effect aerodynamics in 2022 erased much of Mercedes' hybrid advantage, and the team's streak of eight consecutive constructors' titles came to an end.

Hamilton's final lap behind the wheel of a Mercedes on December 8, 2024, in Abu Dhabi closed a chapter not only in his personal saga but also in the history of Formula 1. It marked the end of an era characterized by regulatory upheaval, technical innovation, and a partnership that transformed a promising newcomer into one of the sport's most successful champions.

The Mercedes W13 and W14 have failed to live up to expectations and do not seem to suit Hamilton's driving style, but a departure from Brackley seems unlikely after the Briton signed a two-year extension in 2023. However, there is no guarantee that Mercedes will reverse the trend anytime soon, and time is running out for Hamilton. In an attempt to win a record eighth title, the 39-year-old may have to take a risk. And what better gamble than to join Ferrari for one last challenge in an extraordinary career? Lewis Hamilton's incredible statistics with Mercedes (on the eve of the 2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix)