LEWIS HAMILTON said he is “pleased this season is over and done with” after he retired from Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to record the worst championship finishing position of his career.
As Max Verstappen raced to win number 15 from 22 rounds at Formula One’s season-ending race, Hamilton’s Mercedes gearbox expired with three laps remaining.
Hamilton’s demise dropped him to sixth in the final standings, 214 points adrift of runaway championship winner Verstappen, and 35 points behind George Russell in the other Mercedes.
The seven-time world champion also lost his record of winning in every season of his career – a streak which stretched back to his debut campaign for McLaren in 2007.
“I am very pleased it is over and done with,” said Hamilton. “I gave it everything, but ultimately the last race was like my whole season. It summed up my year.”
Mechanical gremlins struck Hamilton’s Mercedes after he ran off the track while duelling Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in the battle for fourth on the opening lap.
Hamilton hit the sausage kerb launching him airborne. He rejoined ahead of Sainz but was told to give the place back.
He then lost out to Russell, and complained his car was “broken”, before parking his machine on lap 55 of 58.
Hamilton departed Abu Dhabi last year pondering if he would ever return to F1, so aggrieved was he by Michael Masi’s officiating of the decider which cost him a record eighth crown.
The 37-year-old decided against retirement, but he will head into this season’s winter break having finished lower than fifth in the championship for the first time.
“This year was not the greatest,” added Hamilton. “It is probably up there with the top-three worst seasons, but in terms of how the team stayed united, there have been lots of pluses.
“It would have been nice to have taken a win, but one win is not really enough is it?
“I feel like this year, when we got our first fifth, it felt like a win. When we got our first fourth, it felt like a win. When we got our first podium, it felt like a win, and those second places felt as if we really achieved something, so I’ll just hold on to those.”
Hamilton is due to take part in a tyre test here on Tuesday before this year’s unruly Mercedes is consigned to history.
“I might have to call a sickie, and say that maybe my back is hurting,” he added, with a wry smile.
A week ago, Russell ended Mercedes’ winning drought with the first victory of his career at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Here the British driver, 24, overcame a five-second penalty for an unsafe release in the pits to finish fourth and end his debut season at the Silver Arrows two places ahead of his more established team-mate.
“If you told me at the start of the season I would finish 35 points clear of Lewis, I would have been incredibly proud and incredibly happy with that,” said Russell.
“Nine times out of 10, if you finish ahead of Lewis Hamilton you are probably going to be a world champion.
“In a season like this when the car is not performing, we have all had our own difficulties. I have no doubt he will be back to his normal levels if the car is capable of a championship win next year.
“He had a very difficult start to the season. Things didn’t go smoothly for him, and they were going a bit more smoothly for me, but that form swung around in the second half of the season. Looking back, the luck probably balanced out.”
They have some neck.
@Patrick Breen: Could still go to the DRA after this and maybe even a court case, who knows?
@Patrick Breen: they’re dead right. Why not just replay the last free again, the idea they have to replay the whole game is a fair solution is madness.
@Paul Mallon: the fact that they blatantly cheated and think they should get away with it is madness.
@Paul Mallon: replay the last free, seriously. So we’ll just make up a new sport..
@Patrick Breen: the more I think about this I’ve changed my mind from it’s 100% a replay to it only warrants a fine! Realistically the chances of a goal with the last kick of the game is unlikely, especially when it’s a 45 with the packed defence fully set up. And it’s telling that the referee allowed the 45 to be taken before the substitutions had been complete properly – Kilmacud will argue that as the subs were not being managed correctly! Players off players on before 45 can take place – clearly ref was going to allow it be taken quickly which added to the panic & confusion. In my view KMc won this game and an extra man on for 24secs over 70+ mins had NO bearing on the outcome. If this was reversed I don’t general public wud be questioning if Glen won it
@BMJF: It’s not really about the likelihood of a goal. Nobody knows what effect the 16th player had, direct or indirect, even as a distraction to the player in possession. The real issue is what happens if there’s no real sanction. Teams will be making substitutions and making sure the player being replaced is at least very slow leaving the pitch. Now we see Glen have pulled out of the appeals process because a replay is unworkable.
@BMJF: especially when it’s an overpacked defence.
@Thomas O’ Donnell: don’t be silly. The GAA will simply learn to make substitutions like every other sporting organisation!! That’s what will happen. Play will pause before a free is taken etc and Players will have to come off before the replacements go on and ref won’t restart the game until they’re in position. It’s not rocket science. GAA should have accepted some responsibility, read their rules and issued a hefty fine the next morning and that would have been the end of it
I’d watch a live stream of that hearing
Hope they throw the book at them and just award the final to the other team.
@Reggie: haha, don’t know about that now Reg. Certainly interested to hear what their grounds for appeal will be though…..seems cut and dried to me that the rule was broken and one of the consequences have been invoked.
The tone of the anti Kilmacud comments is telling. An anti Dub vibe off them. I’m guessing that If this was reversed and Glen had 16 men for 24secs over a 70+ min game, defending a 2point lead with last play of the game, the general public wud be saying that on balance Glen should remain the winners, and that the extra man for 24 secs didn’t really impact the outcome! But because it’s a big Dub club everyone has knickers in a knot!!
If GAA had issued a fine quickly I think Glen would have accepted the result , as their manager did straight after the game
@BMJF: I would say the opposite, the Ulster team (as always) are being portrayed as the bad guys here… maybe I’m wrong
Kilmacud won fair and square on the field of play. Glen will be looked upon as sore losers. There’s no way Kilmacud will replay the match. They are prepared to hand the cup over to Glen. If the Glen club wants to avoid the lasting legacy of poor losers they really should withdraw the objection and gear themselves up to trying to win the title next year on the field of play. That would give the club a lot of respect.
@Brendan Daniel Naughton: ‘fair and square’, hahahaha, are you well.
Great stuff