Top Engineer Claims Mercedes Is Focusing on Giving Lewis Hamilton “A Strong Finish” in Abu Dhabi

Lewis Hamilton is set to make his last appearance for Mercedes this weekend, a moment nobody thought would come so soon a year ago. But all good things do come to an end, and so does the two-decade-long association between Hamilton and Mercedes.

The seven-time world champion was eager to finish his time with Mercedes on a high note. But so far that hasn’t happened with him facing issues with his W15 every weekend.

Mercedes has remained receptive to Hamilton’s criticism but largely failed to improve. But now, Andrew Shovlin claims that the Silver Arrows are focused on giving a better car to Hamilton to end things on a strong note.

“We’re putting all our effort into making sure we can finish with a strong result, because of all the things we could do to celebrate Lewis’ time with the team, a strong finish is probably the one that he would be most grateful to receive,” said Shovlin on Mercedes’ Youtube channel.

Apart from the boost in performance, Shovlin reveals that there will be other tributes to Hamilton across the week, including the 150 fan names on his livery. Meanwhile, Maranello are all set to welcome Hamilton. Despite Hamilton’s lack of performances this year, Fred Vasseur isn’t regretting his decision.

Hamilton can never lose it

While Hamilton struggled, George Russell has been better able to extract performances in the same car. The deficit in results cast some doubts over Hamilton’s abilities.

But Vasseur has shown his faith in Hamilton by saying, “Have a look at the 50 laps that he did in Vegas. Starting P10, finishing on the gearbox of [George] Russell, I’m not worried at all.”

Vasseur is not alone in keeping faith in Hamilton. Even fierce rival Max Verstappen has maintained that Hamilton can never lose it. Verstappen pointed out that the issues in the car are restricting the Briton, and whenever Hamilton has had an opportunity to perform, he did.

Nevertheless, Hamilton is fortunate to sign for Ferrari at a time when they will most likely be contesting for the title. If things go right, he’ll record himself as a legend in Maranello by giving them a title after 17 years.

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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