Following his ’emotional farewell’ announcement from Mercedes in 2025, Lewis Hamilton—the 7x World Champion—has started the 2024 Formula 1 season on the wrong foot. His poor start to the season is crystal clear in his disappointing results from the opening two Grand Prix events.
However, Hamilton has recently claimed that he is ready for the ‘uphill challenge’ of finishing his Mercedes career on a high note this season.
Lewis Hamilton confident to finish F1 season strongly
In a recent interview at SMK Seri Keramat, Lewis Hamilton, who made a brief stop in Malayasia en route to Australia for the next GP event, revealed that he is optimistic about bidding adieu to Mercedes with a strong performance this season despite having a poor start to the season.
“The season hasn’t started off well, so we face another uphill challenge and battle, and I think I just want to finish off great,” he started.
“We approach the same way we always have, we did some amazing things together, a great privilege and pleasure to work with Mercedes and Petronas.
“I think I just want to finish high and give it absolutely everything this year,” he further said.
Hamilton, who is tied with Michael Schumacher at 7 F1 titles, also expressed his desire to fight for his ‘much awaited’ eighth title in his final season with the Silver Arrows. “I wish we will fight for the championship this season, unfortunately not at the moment, but still long way to go,” he added.
“Still farfetched at the moment, but that is the north star (symbol of hope and direction). It takes the whole team, a lot of people that need to come together and do an exceptional job.”
“That’s what we are working…Communicating, working towards all the different challenges available there,” he concluded.
These words of optimism from the Briton come at a time when he had a ‘back-to-back’ poor run at the starting two GP races.
Lewis Hamilton’s performance this F1 season so far
Lewis Hamilton, who has not won a Grand Prix race since 2021, has started this season like he did the past two, with two losses in the opening two–Bahrain and Saudi Arabian–Grand Prix races.
At the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, the Briton had a pretty disappointing run with his ‘bouncy’ Mercedes W15 at the Sakhir circuit: a P7 finish with a ‘massive’ gap time of +50.324s from top-runner Max Verstappen. His struggles on Bahrain grounds were even seen in his pre-race rankings as well: P9 in FP1, P12 in FP3, and P9 in the qualifying rounds.
The 39-year-old continued this poor start at the Saudi Arabian GP as well, grabbing two P8 and a P9 spot in the practice sessions. He started the official race from P8—after securing it in the qualifying session—and crossed the checkered flag at a ‘worse’ P9 spot with another huge gap of +47.391s.
After the first two rounds of the 2024 F1 season, he is now sitting in the P9 spot in the Driver’s Standings with a total of 8 points: 6 points from R1 and 2 points from R2.
Lewis Hamilton will now take on the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit on March 24 at the Australian Grand Prix.
Can Hamilton really finish this strongly with Mercedes? Or will he continue his poor start throughout the season? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
