Lewis Hamilton waves goodbye this weekend to Mercedes, the team that won six world championships while his next team Ferrari fights for a first constructors’ title in 16 years.
Saturday’s streetlight Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is also the last, with the Briton wrapping up a 12-year run with the Silver Arrows and 26-year run with Mercedes.
Then Hamilton is off to Ferrari, where Italy will be hoping that he finds the form and the mojo that made him the winningest driver in the sport, winning seven titles and 105 races before sinking into a pit of frustration in this “ground effect” world.
And they have made Red Bull come back and take four drivers’ titles with Max Verstappen, who had gone into this season falling short, leaving McLaren 21 points clear of Ferrari going into the season-end race.
McLaren, Hamilton’s first F1 home, haven’t won the teams’ title since 1998; Ferrari haven’t done so since 2008 when Mercedes and Red Bull have dominated.
Even after his struggles these last weeks, particularly in Brazil and Qatar, Hamilton will have Mercedes in two minds.
“It’s a celebration of everything we’ve done,” team boss Toto Wolff said about the Yas Marina Circuit final.
“We’ll celebrate a never before told tale in Abu Dhabi and then head to Kuala Lumpur, Stuttgart and Brixworth and Brackley… Lewis is part of the family forever”.
‘[T]he whole team wants to get one last lick in the reel before Hamilton spends his final days at the outfit’s other centres,’ he said.
Nothing will rob me of 12 phenomenal years. That’s the memory, not a bad-race season.
And, since Ferrari would sign Hamilton for 2026, which Mercedes refused to do, he would have a longer opportunity not only to compete for an eighth title (his record), but to encourage diversity and inclusion.
Hamilton’s Ferrari win on Sunday might be just the ticket for his departure and he can bury all those temper tantrums and claims about early-season elimination.
The Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur said that he is nothing at all bothered about Hamilton saying he lost speed.
“Look at the 50 laps he ran in Vegas. P10 from the beginning, finish on Russell’s gearbox. No, I’m not worried.”
Hamilton (40 in January) wants to “rise again” and leave his mark. “I’m still standing,” he said. ‘You don’t fall, you get up.
Carlos Sainz — whose place he will be replacing — will also be making for a happy end with Charles Leclerc and his attempt to revers McLaren’s momentum.
“To win it means Ferrari has to have a good weekend and McLaren has a bad weekend,” said Sainz.
“We’re gonna go for it. And if we can nail a perfect weekend I reckon we can still get there. Nothing to lose.”
On the track, on form, at a track likely to reward them, McLaren open strongly.
But after the Qatar win, Verstappen is now going to be out for a 10th this year with his usual style, with Red Bull saying goodbye to sporting director Jonathan Wheatley who’s moving to Sauber/Audi.
The Dutchman Verstappen may also be motivated by his Qatar scandal with Hamilton’s Mercedes team-mate George Russell.
Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez is potentially out of the sport for good after a disaster run while Alpine welcomed Jack Doohan into the fold in Esteban Ocon’s place.