Lewis Hamilton makes unwanted history in final Mercedes race despite fourth-place finish at Abu Dhabi GP
Lewis Hamilton ended his time with Mercedes by making a piece of unwanted history.
The Formula 1 icon took part in his final race as a Mercedes driver at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix before making the switch to Ferrari next season.
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His career at the Brackley-based team has been the most successful partnership ever after an incredible 12 years of service and six world title wins.
In total, he won 84 races and started 78 Grand Prix on pole with the team too, which has made him arguably F1’s greatest ever.
That success makes up the large majority of Hamilton’s career and he holds the record for the most race wins and poles in history as well as many more impressive feats.
However, Hamilton’s farewell has seen him hit a personal low.
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Heading into the last Grand Prix of the year, he was seventh in the Driver Standings and 24 points behind teammate George Russell.
This meant he was on the brink of finishing in his lowest-ever position in the F1 Drivers’ Championship.
Throughout his 17-year career, Hamilton has never finished outside the top six until now.
This is because, though he finished fourth, Russell was fifth, keeping him ahead of Hamilton in the Drivers' Standings.
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In the end, he finished on 223 points, 22 behind Russell on 245.
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Hamilton’s previous worst standing in the Drivers’ Championship was 6th in 2022.
He had two fifth-placed finishes in the standings for McLaren in 2009 and 2011, while he finished fourth in his first year at Mercedes in 2013.
Unfortunately, a seventh has now been added to his career record, but it's unlikely to bother him too much.
Ahead of his final Grand Prix weekend getting underway, Hamilton posted an emotional message on his Instagram account.
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Accompanying a video of his celebrations at Mercedes, his caption read: “This is really it. My last race with Mercedes.
“What we’ve built together over the years is nothing short of historic. People doubted me making this move in 2013, and here we are now. The records we’ve broken, the championships we’ve won, it all speaks for itself.
“This won’t be the last time I thank Mercedes, but going into my final race with this team is really hitting me now. It’s really the end of an era in my life, in my career, for the team, and in F1 history.
“I’m proud of what we’ve created, I’m proud of every single person that been part of this with me. Thank you. It’s been real, now let’s go again one more time.”
And after the race in a conversation with his race engineer Peter Bonnington, he praised his Mercedes team.
"He said: "The pleasure’s been mine. Yeah Bono, we dreamed alone, but together we believed. And as a team, we achieved things .
"Thank you for all the courage, the determination, the passion, and for seeing me and supporting me. What started out as a leap of faith turned into a journey into the history books.
"We did everything together and I’m so so grateful to everyone. From the bottom of my heart; all the best.”