Lewis Hamilton “massively underestimated” how hard Mercedes exit would be

Lewis Hamilton says he “massively underestimated” how difficult leaving Mercedes would be.

This weekend’s season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix marks Hamilton’s final race with Mercedes before the seven-time world champion completes a blockbuster switch to rivals Ferrari next year.

Hamilton has won six of his seven world titles with Mercedes during his 12-season stint with the Silver Arrows and has admitted his impending departure has been harder to deal with than he initially expected.

The 39-year-old Briton, who said he is feeling “pretty calm” heading into his last weekend with Mercedes, admitted there have been some “awkward” moments to navigate along the way.

“The first meeting with Toto at the beginning of the year was awkward. Of course it was awkward from the get-go,” Hamilton told media including Crash.net on Thursday in Abu Dhabi.

“The day after I took the team paintballing and they had just found out… There’s been loads of moments throughout the year. I got shots and had loads of bruises. People went in on me that day!

“I anticipated it would be difficult but massively underestimated how difficult. It was straining on the relationship very early on and took time for people to get past it.”

Hamilton ‘not been my best’ in handling emotions

Hamilton said he has also struggled to cope with the emotional toll his Mercedes departure has had on him, conceding he has “not been at my best”.

“Just for my own self, it’s been a very emotional year for me and I think I’ve not been at my best in dealing with those emotions,” he explained. 

“I think you’ve all seen the worst of me and the best of me and I’m not going to apologise for either because I’m only human and I’m not always going to get it right.

“I would definitely say this year has been one of the worst in terms of handling it from my side, which I’ll try to be better at. I hope the good and the highs far outweigh the negatives in terms of how I’ve behaved.

“I just remember the good times and I’ve built some incredible relationships. When you go through a season together with so many people, not only on those weekends you are riding highs and lows together but also in their personal lives, through marriages, through divorces, through loss of family members, through cancer, through all sorts.

“You are going through all these moments with people and it’s a really beautiful journey you go on together. Being there for so long, the emotions run so deep.”