George Russell hails Lewis Hamilton after epic last-lap battle: “He deserved it”

George Russell believes his last-lap battle with Lewis Hamilton at the F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was a “fitting way” for their time together as teammates to end at Mercedes.

Hamilton overtook Russell on the final lap of the race at the Yas Marina Circuit for fourth place.

The seven-time world champion enjoyed a strong race from 16th on the grid to finish fourth in his final race for Mercedes.

Hamilton will now bow out of Mercedes for Ferrari, while Russell will become the team’s leader alongside 18-year-old wonderkid Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

Reflecting on the last-lap battle with Hamilton, Russell said: “The season’s come to a close now. We’ve been off the pace this whole weekend, and I felt like it was quite a fitting way to finish with Lewis, just one second apart after these three years.

“To be honest, I’m just really happy for him that he had a great final race, because I think he deserved it.

“The team deserved to give him the send-off. And yeah, just pleased that it’s come to a close now.”

“Learned so much from Lewis”

Russell has fared well against Hamilton on-track, out-qualifying him 19–5 this year.

Across their three years together, Hamilton outscored Russell by just three points, showing how evenly matched they’ve been since the start of 2022.

Before their battle on the last lap, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff came on the team radio and told Russell: “George, stating the obvious, keep it clean with Lewis.”

Russell stated that Wolff’s message wasn’t needed as he has “so much respect” for his veteran teammate.

“Of course, of course. Toto doesn’t need to say it,” he added. “Lewis and I have got so much respect for one another, we always raced hard but fairly, and come down to the wire.

“But ultimately, for me, having these three years together, [I’ve] learned so much from Lewis as a driver, as a person. Today he deserved to finish ahead of me, because he’s been quicker this whole weekend.

“And as I said, I’m just sort of… proud to have had these years.”