After “shelf life” comments from Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff, Lewis Hamilton has responded in the best way possible; out on the track.
Two weeks ago, Toto Wolff made some comments regarding Lewis Hamilton’s departure to Ferrari come 2025.
“[But] I like the situation. It helps us because it avoids the moment where we need to tell the sport’s most iconic driver that we want to stop.”
“There’s a reason why we only signed a one-plus-one-year contract.
“We’re in a sport where cognitive sharpness is extremely important, and I believe everyone has a shelf life. So I need to look at the next generation. It’s the same in football. Managers like Sir Alex Ferguson or Pep Guardiola. They anticipated it in the performance of their top stars and brought in junior players that drove the team for the next years.” – Toto Wolff speaking to Matt Whyman via Motorsprot Magazine.
His comments were taken quite harshly by fans. However, Wolff later clarified that he had no ill intentions, and rather still had full belief in Hamilton.
Hamilton meanwhile gave his response out on the track, with the Las Vegas Grand Prix acting as a stage for him to make a loud statement.
The fastest out there
Lewis Hamilton has had a fantastic weekend at the Las Vegas Grand Prix. He was the fastest man on Thursday. He topped both Free Practice 1 and 2 sessions and was gunning for the top of the timesheets on Friday.
The Mercedes driver set the sixth fastest time in FP3 and would go on to show rapid pace again in qualifying in the hours later. For Q1, he was second fastest, just three-hundredths of a second behind teammate George Russell. In Q2, Hamilton was the fastest, with a 1.32.567 a tenth over Ferrari‘s Carlos Sainz.
With the pace he had shown all weekend, it was expected that Lewis Hamilton would be a strong contender for pole. However, when Q3 came, he paid the price of having cold tyres. He set a time only fast enough for P10 – which was deleted for track limits. To put it into context, his Q2 time would be enough to get him into the top three.
A climbing race and a 1-2 finish
To make up for the woes from qualifying, Hamilton had quite the task ahead of him. However, his team delivered a car worthy of a champion. It was up to the 105-time race winner to deliver.
The cold weather and multitudes of long straights favoured the W15. Both drivers made the most of this, and were the fastest men on the grid during the 50-lap shootout.
Russell, who started on pole maintained the lead of the race after a strong start off the line. The young Brit went on to cross the line first, driving a race of his own.
With Russell’s victory, 2024 is the first season in Formula 1 history in which four constructors have won at least four Grands Prix each.
His teammate on the other hand had the challenge of having to make his way up the grid and through traffic to get points worthy of the package Mercedes brought to Las Vegas.
Like the 7-time world champion he is though, Hamilton showed impressive race craft. The biggest challenge for him was getting past the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz who were faster on the straights. But even that was soon done and dusted, and Hamilton chased down his teammate.
With old Hard tyres though, the F1 veteran began to lose grip, and therefore time. While there was no last-lap battle for the win, Mercedes crossed the line with no car between them.
Mercedes are now the fourth team to enjoy a 1-2 finish in the 2024 Formula 1 season, with Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren having already enjoyed that triumph.
And after a champion’s drive, Hamilton made quite the statement himself.
P10 > P2.
Form is temporary, class is permanent.
Lewis Hamilton is your driver of the day in Las Vegas. pic.twitter.com/sSRLHk4EB0
— Autosport (@autosport) November 24, 2024
In his own words
“I had a great time, when you’re progressing it’s always a great feeling.
“It felt very much like my old days [karting] at Rye House, starting at the back and coming through – so it was great.
“[It was a] really good balance in the car today, felt a lot better than it was yesterday – particularly Q3 – but it’s just phenomenal for the team.
“It is slightly bittersweet as if we had qualified where we should have yesterday, I think I could have won. Nevertheless, I didn’t think I would have been able to finish P2 today before the race so I’m very happy.”
“Maybe Qatar will be cooler and it’s smooth, at the track we were okay last year, Abu Dhabi maybe less so, but we’ll see.” – Lewis Hamilton post race.
