Mercedes Foresees Victory in Hamilton's Final Lap

Mercedes F1 anticipates a last triumph for Hamilton, overcoming shared doubts of a happy conclusion.

Mercedes F1’s Track Engineering Director, Andrew Shovlin, acknowledged that the team shared Lewis Hamilton’s doubts during his challenging winless period from late 2021 to mid-2024.

Mercedes F1 secured only one race win between 2022 and last month’s Austrian Grand Prix. The team has experienced a noticeable dip in form since its title streak, struggling to adapt to the ground effect of this generation of F1.

Recently, however, the team reversed its fortunes with George Russell’s victory in Austria, while Hamilton returned to winning form at the British Grand Prix.

After his first win in nearly three years, Hamilton discussed the doubts he had—and questioned whether he still had what it takes to win in F1.

Shovlin also spoke about the doubts Mercedes faced as an organization after producing “a third bad car in a row.”

“It’s inevitable, and I think the whole team went through a period of such doubts, like Lewis. When we launched our third bad car in a row, we all wondered why we had made another mistake and how we could have missed things again.”

“This leads you to question what you’re doing. I think not having a competitive car made it tough for Lewis, as he’s a driver born to win races.”

“These past years have been tough for him, having achieved so many mediocre results for his standing. It’s not as if he only had bad races because he competed with George, who is an incredibly fast driver and a tough person to beat. Lewis had his share of races where he was ahead of George. It’s just that we couldn’t win because we didn’t have the car to win.”

As Hamilton leaves the team after 12 years of dedicated service to join Ferrari in 2025, Shovlin insists that everyone at Mercedes hopes for a “happy ending” for the seven-time world champion.

“When Lewis announced he was going to Ferrari, we all wanted to make this year a year to remember. Committing to something to celebrate this time.”

“The whole team was hoping that this year would be one where we could win races again and get results, because it would be really unfortunate for Lewis to close an absolutely incredible chapter of his career at Mercedes with three consecutive winless seasons.”

“We are happy for him, we are happy for the team. We want nothing more than to see this chapter with Lewis end on a happy note.”