Mercedes driver George Russell has opened up about Lewis Hamilton’s last-lap overtake at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to secure fourth position. Considering his stellar recovery from P16, and most importantly, marking his last race with Mercedes, Russell admitted that he was happy for his teammate who deserved to finish ahead of him.
The race weekend at the Yas Marina Circuit marked an emotional moment not only for the seven-time world champion but also for his team, considering the attachment that has formed over the successful partnership spanning 12 years.
For Russell, Hamilton had been a childhood hero since he couldn’t get the F1 legend’s autograph when he was ten years old. Climbing up the single-seater racing ranks, he became Hamilton’s teammate in 2022 upon joining Mercedes.
Russell acknowledged that Hamilton had been quicker than him throughout the race weekend. Commenting on his last lap overtake during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in the final lap, he said:
“We’ve been off the pace this whole weekend, and it was quite I felt like it was quite a fitting way to finish with Lewis, just one second apart after these three years.
“And to be honest, I’m actually just really happy for him that he had a great final race, because I think he deserved it – the team deserved to give him this send-off.
“We always race hard but fairly and [it] came down to to the wire ultimately. For me, having these three years together, learned so much from from Lewis as a driver, as a person.
“Today, he deserved to to finish ahead of me because he’s been quicker this whole weekend, and as I said, I’m just proud to have had these these years.”
During the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Hamilton’s race engineer Peter Bonnington, affectionately known as Bono, delivered his iconic, “It’s hammer time Lewis” radio message for the last time. The call, traditionally signaling Hamilton to push to the limit took on a deeply sentimental meaning in this race. After switching to medium tires, Hamilton recognized the significance of the moment as it hit him that he was never going to hear that message again. He told Sky Sports F1:
“I think when Bono said it was ‘hammer time’ [during the pit stop phase], I did notice in the moment, I was like ‘that’s the last time I’m going to hear that.’ It really clicked for me in that moment.
“It was a really, really hard race – naturally – from where I was, and I didn’t get as great a start as this one here [Charles Leclerc], my new team-mate.
“And that first stint was really, really difficult. I wasn’t losing hope, I was just like, ‘Oh, not going as well as I thought it would.’
“But I just didn’t give up, I just kept pushing, like ‘Come on, we can get there’ and then switched on to the different tyres, and the car came alive – but I had a massive gap to close, so I just focused on just getting absolutely everything from the car and not giving up.
“I wanted to finish on as much of a high and just give every ounce of me to the team, as they’ve given to me all these years.”
Speaking further to F1TV, he said:
“I will miss everyone. I can’t tell you how much I will miss them. It’s going to be a huge amount because I’ve worked with them every day for the past 12 years. There’s a lot of love within this team and that’s not going anywhere.”
