Lewis Hamilton purchased a gift for all 3,000 members of the Mercedes team before his exit to Ferrari was complete, commissioning a painting of his car from the 2019 Monaco Grand Prix.
Hamilton’s Mercedes career lasted 12 seasons and produced unprecedented success. The Brit won six Drivers’ Championship titles and helped his squad to win the Constructors’ Championship eight times, creating one of the great F1 dynasties.
Following an emotional month of build-up to his final race with the Silver Arrows, Hamilton pipped team-mate George Russell on the final lap to finish P4 at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in December, capping off a trademark recovery drive and providing a fitting end to his time at Brackley.
Hamilton didn’t leave without a goodbye gift, though. The 40-year-old commissioned motorsport artist Paul Oz with the remit of painting his car from the 2019 Monaco GP – his third and most recent victory around the streets of the principality.
In a since-deleted post, Oz showed off his work with the caption: “Now that it’s public knowledge and all 3,000 Mercedes GP employees have received their prints of this, I can talk about it. Commissioned by Lewis himself as a departing present for everybody at Mercedes… class act!
“My only remit was that I should focus on the car rather than Lewis, and so I chose to paint an image from Monaco 2019, just a few days after Niki Lauda passed, and the team ran a red halo to remember Niki. Lewis stuck it on pole and then dominated the race.”
Hamilton’s classy farewell gesture sums up his 12-year stay in Brackley. The Stevenage-born racer has left new recruit Kimi Antonelli with a daunting task: filling the boots of the most successful driver, statistically speaking, in F1 history.
Fortunately for Antonelli, he has experienced heads guiding him in his rookie season. Along with the unwavering support of team principal Toto Wolff, the Italian teenager will be coached by reserve driver Valtteri Bottas and mentored by incumbent Mercedes star George Russell.
Antonelli is entering the 2025 campaign with the right attitude, too. “I’m going to go with the mind[set] of trying to win, but of course, you have to be realistic at the same time,” he told Sky Sports F1.
“I just joined the grid, I’m in a good team… I’m in a great team, I’m with Mercedes and I’m really grateful for the opportunity I got. But of course, I will need to learn, I will try to make the least amount of mistakes, try to learn race by race and then also [try to be] achieving some great results, especially if the speed is there.
“I’m going to try also to learn a lot from my team mate, George. He’s a really good driver and he has shown, especially last year, what he’s capable of. I’m going to try to learn as much as possible, and then we’ll see what we can do.”
