CHRISTIAN HORNER ON TOTO, ABU DHABI AND LIFE AFTER RED BULL

 

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ABU DHABI GP: LEWIS HAMILTON ENDS MERCEDES CAREER WITH P4 FINISH

Lewis Hamilton finished his Mercedes career with an impressive comeback, clinching fourth place after starting 16th at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Hamilton, rolling back the years, overtook teammate George Russell on the final lap.

The race called time on the most successful driver-team partnership of all time -- in his 12 years since joining Mercedes, Hamilton won 84 races and six world championships, adding to the title he won with McLaren in 2008.

The partnership even surpassed Michael Schuamcher's legendary stint at Ferrari between 1996 and 2006.

The British driver will now look to follow in Schumacher's footsteps by ending a drivers' championship drought for Ferrari, which stretches back to Kimi Raikkonen's 2007 title in Hamilton's rookie season.

If he does so, he will also move clear of the joint record of seven world championships he shares with the German driver.

Lewis Hamilton is waving goodbye to Mercedes ahead of his move to Ferrari for the 2025 season Joe Portlock/Getty Images

"That was the drive of a world champion," Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said to Hamilton on team radio after the race.,

Hamilton, meanwhile, told race engineer Peter Bonnington: "We dreamed alone but together we believed. What started out as a leap of faith turned into a journey into the history books."

Hamilton's debut Ferrari appearance will not take place until early 2025.

There was a chance he could have appeared for the team in the post-season test taking place at the Yas Marina circuit next week if an early release was settled on, but he is still contracted to Mercedes until the end of the calendar year.

"It's been a really turbulent year, probably the longest year of my life," Hamilton added to reporters in Abu Dhabi. "Lots of ups and downs, emotionally, but we finished off with a high today."

Lewis Hamilton performs donuts on the grid after finishing fourth at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix for Mercedes. ANDREJ ISAKOVIC/AFP via Getty Images

Next week Hamilton will visit Mercedes' title sponsor, Petronas, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, as well as Mercedes' headquarters in Stuggart, Germany before visiting the team's two UK-based Formula 1 factories in Brixwoth and Brackley.

Mercedes has said the visits will be a celebration of Hamilton's career with the team.

Italy's Andrea Kimi Antonelli has already been confirmed as Hamilton's replacement for 2025 -- the teen prodigy will partner George Russell.

Hamilton, who stood on his Mercedes car after performing donuts on the Abu Dhabi grid, concluded: "Every moment that I've got in the car this week I've known that it's one of the last.

"It's been really hard to let go."

- Nate Saunders, Senior Writer, F1

ABU DHABI GP: TOTO WOLFF LABELS CHRISTIAN HORNER 'YAPPING LITTLE TERRIER '

Toto Wolff labelled his Red Bull counterpart Christian Horner a "yapping little terrier" as he came to George Russell's defence in his growing feud with Max Verstappen.

A remarkable media day ahead of Sunday's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix started with Russell claiming to ESPN and select other media that Verstappen had threatened last week to "put me on my f---ing head in the wall'."

Russell had been responding to Verstappen's comments about him last Sunday -- the Dutchman had been irate with a grid penalty which cost him pole, one he felt Russell had lobbied for him to get.

In his own media session after the race Qatar, Red Bull boss Horner said: "Yesterday's penalty was more based on hysterics from George, who has been quite hysterical this weekend."

Wolff stepped in to respond to those comments.

In Russell's open media session at the Yas Marina circuit, which Wolff took the unusual step of joining -- he eventually picked up a microphone to defend his driver from the Red Bull pair.

"It's just weak," Wolff said. "At the end, why does he feel entitled to comment about my driver? How does that come? But thinking about it, I've spent 90 seconds to think about it...

"Yapping little terrier. Always something to say."

Wolff added: "I think as a team principal, it's important to be a sparring partner for your drivers.

Toto Wolff and Christian Horner have built an F1 rivalry during their times as Mercedes and Red Bull bosses Mark Thompson/Getty Images

"And that means explaining that things can be more nuanced. Statements that are absolutistic, taking everything is either right, 100% right or 100% wrong, is something I just think you need to explain, think of more nuance, depending from your perception and your perspective. You need to allow for something to be 51-49, you need to allow for it to be 70-30. There is always another side.

"Maybe when you look at it that way, and you explain it to the drivers and to your team, you come to the conclusion that there is truth on both sides. If you don't do that, you're falling short of your role."

When asked why he had felt the need to attend Russell's session, something he would not normally do, Wolff said Horner's comments had gone over the line.

"I tell you clearly," he said. "There is a thing between drivers, and this is George and Max, and I don't want to get involved in that, but if the other team principal calls George hysterical, this is where he crosses a line for me. Now, his forte for sure is not intellectual psychoanalysis, but that's quite a word. How dare you comment on the state of mind of my driver."

For the avoidance of doubt, Mercedes later clarified that both Wolff's comments had been directed at Horner, not Verstappen.

- Nate Saunders, Senior Writer, F1

HAMILTON'S LONG, SOMETIMES UNCOMFORTABLE FAREWELL TO MERCEDES

Mark Thompson//Getty Images

This weekend's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will mark the end of the longest and most successful driver/team partnership in the history of Formula 1. After 12 years, 246 races, 84 victories (85 if he can pull off one last miracle) and six drivers' championships, Lewis Hamilton will leave Mercedes to join Ferrari in 2025.

For all the success Hamilton and Mercedes have achieved together, the partnership is ending on a slightly awkward note. Hamilton's decision last winter to leave Mercedes took the team by surprise and has resulted in a long -- and occasionally torturous - goodbye, in which Hamilton's ongoing struggles with the latest generation of F1 car have been laid bare.

Three races ago in Brazil, he expressed his desire for the season to end so that he can enjoy some precious family time over Christmas. At last weekend's race in Qatar he even considered parking his Mercedes when he was informed of a penalty for exceeding the pit lane speed limit during the race.

That's not to say everything has been bad in his swansong year. In July at Silverstone, Hamilton turned back the clock with an epic British Grand Prix victory, which also marked his first win since he lost the 2021 title in devastating fashion at Abu Dhabi. A follow-up victory came in Belgium (which will likely be his last with Mercedes), but only after teammate George Russell was disqualified for his car being underweight.

There will still be 24 days left on Hamilton's contract following Sunday's chequered flag in Abu Dhabi, during which Mercedes plans to give him a proper farewell to mark their historic partnership. When the goodbyes are complete, though, both driver and team will embark on new eras: Hamilton in Maranello and Mercedes by promoting promising 18-year-old rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli as the seven-time champion's replacement.

Fairytale endings are rare in Formula 1 -- even more so when they have been dragged out over a year -- but that shouldn't cloud all there is to celebrate about Hamilton's time at Mercedes.

- Laurence Edmondson, Senior Writer, F1

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT FOR RED BULL? RIVALS HOPE NOT

Reuters 

Red Bull principal Christian Horner joked after Formula One's season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix that, with his team winning 21 of 22 races in 2023, there was room for improvement next year.

If the quip raised only a hollow laugh after the most dominant season ever, with triple world champion Max Verstappen setting a string of records including 10 wins in a row and 19 in total, it was because it contained an underlying truth.

Red Bull will hope to defend their titles in 2024, when there will be a record 24 races, with an even better car.

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