Lewis Hamilton revealed his decision to leave Mercedes way early this year. But who would replace him remained a mystery till Andrea Kimi Antonelli was announced as Mercedes’ new driver in 2025. That weekend, Antonelli also gave his first free practice appearance.
Stephen Lord, the member of Mercedes tea, revealed that Hamilton left a note for Antonelli during that weekend. Lord explains that it struck Hamilton that it would be the last time he would be in his room at Monza.
“He said ‘I’m really emotional, it’s like I can’t leave, I feel kind of sad to walk away from that room because I been in that room for so many years and I’m never gonna see it again.’ And he was really quite touched that he was leaving it behind,” reveals Lord.
#F1 | Stephen Lord shares a fond moment of his with Lewis Hamilton in Monza.
He reveals that Lewis Hamilton was quite emotional that race and left a personal note for Kimi Antonelli in his new room.
“After the race in Monza, the last European round. In Europe we have the race… pic.twitter.com/f5uytbV1CX
— deni (@fiagirly) December 11, 2024
After Hamilton finally left the room, Lord found a note the seven-time world champion left for his successor at Mercedes. The message was mainly about Hamilton welcoming Antonelli to take his place.
“‘If you care for them, they’ll care for you because they’re a great team.’ And I thought wow what a nice thing to do,” the note said as per Lord. Lord also revealed that Hamilton left a carving of a smiley face with the text, “Lewis was here’ with a big smiley face.”
Antonelli looks up to Hamilton
For Antonelli, it’s big shoes to fill in. The Italian race driver understands it, but lucky for him, Hamilton, ever since Antonelli was announced as his replacement, has been advising him about driving.
“I didn’t expect it. He’s very kind and talks to me a lot, and the style is similar to mine with a very understeering car,” said Antonelli. But now, Hamilton is no longer a teammate at Mercedes.
With the last race in Abu Dhabi, Hamilton will move to Ferrari. Though before that Hamilton has demanded a vacation. After the last race of the season, Hamilton said he desperately needed a vacation, even if it was the shortest ever, as after that he would have to deal with a steep learning curve at Ferrari.
