Mercedes chiefs tip off Ferrari: “Lewis Hamilton has clearly still got it”

Mercedes chiefs’ claims that Lewis Hamilton still retains his genius behind the wheel will be music to Ferrari’s ears.

Hamilton ended his iconic stint with Mercedes at the F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix where he went from 16th to fourth.

Hamilton will join Ferrari in 2025, who can profit from the brilliance that his closest allies insist he still has.

Lewis Hamilton from Mercedes to Ferrari

Peter Bonnington has formed the best-ever race engineer and driver partnership in Formula 1 with Hamilton but was still shocked to see him reach P4 in Abu Dhabi.

“None of the strategy plans showed us getting quite so far ahead,” Bono told Sky Sports.

Mercedes trackside engineer Andrew Shovlin added: “You saw in Vegas how good he is at chasing down a gap.

“He has been quick all weekend but we let him down in qualifying. We should have started further up the grid.

“It was nice to finish with a really strong drive from Lewis, who has clearly still got it.

“He is determined to keep going, keep winning races, keep adding to his record. We will be cheering him on.”

Shovlin reacted to Toto Wolff’s fury after a bad qualifying: “To be fair, we didn’t do a good enough job. We know what we’re here to do, and the standards we operate to. The bigger thing was that we’d put a lot of work into making this a weekend to remember for Lewis, and we were sad that we dropped the ball.”

Bono delivered his famous “it’s hammer time” radio plea before Hamilton completed his brilliant drive in Abu Dhabi.

“We just needed the Lewis magic,” Bono said. “He’s a Sunday man. He performed as well as he always does.

“For him to have that belief in us? We knew that we had a competitive programme coming up with the V6 engine and the chassis. We didn’t think it’d be quite so strong.

“That partnership with Lewis? The record says the story.”

Nico Rosberg praises Lewis Hamilton

Former teammate and rival Nico Rosberg said about the emotional post-race goodbyes: “It’s so powerful to see these moments. Amazing work that Lewis found from inside the car.

“It’s beautiful, the story that they wrote.”

Danica Patrick said: “What a rollercoaster of a weekend. The struggles they’ve had to be fast every weekend.

“He was running well, then qualifying happened. He didn’t have a good qualifying - they sent him out too late, he got into traffic, picked up the bollard.

“Then he starts at the back, gets the race going, then had a chance at a podium!

“I don’t know if it was the chosen route but it made it exciting to watch.”

Rosberg added: “The way he drove was the drive of a seven-time world champion and the greatest of all time.

“He passed George, who had started at the front. A phenomenal drive from Lewis.”

Hamilton will form a strong partnership with Charles Leclerc at Ferrari in 2025, under Fred Vasseur’s leadership.

Mercedes’ new era will have George Russell as their senior driver, with rookie Kimi Antonelli replacing Hamilton.