Lewis Hamilton has shared a heartfelt statement about leaving Mercedes following the conclusion of the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
The Brit has opened up on how he has now digested that the race, in which he finished fifth, will be his last for Mercedes in Europe as he begins to prepare for his move to Ferrari next year.
Writing on Instagram, Hamilton touched upon how he is gradually coming to terms with the significance of the switch, having joined Mercedes at the end of 2012 and enjoyed six Drivers’ Championships with the team.
He explained: “Leaving Monza, it hit me that it was the last European race this year. The last time I’ll be in my room in engineering that’s been my home for 12 years.
“This is such a unique time in my life, one that continues to bring out a lot of emotions. What I feel the most is pride and gratitude. The memories will last forever, as will the memories I make next year.
”Hamilton emerged with credit at Monza given that he was dealt a tricky hand due to the high temperatures in Italy.
The temperature soared beyond 30 degrees on race day, which had significant implications for a host of drivers, especially Hamilton.
The 39-year-old said that his car became ‘ridiculously hot’ and said that sitting inside the cockpit was like ‘sitting in a sauna with no shorts on’.
The seven-time world champion will be hoping that the overheating issue can be tended to in the coming races, with trips to Azerbaijan and Singapore coming up later this month which can also be very warm at this time of year.
Hamilton will also be hoping that he can celebrate a few more victories whilst representing Mercedes. He ended a 945-day win drought with his victory at the British Grand Prix in July.
And speaking about the struggles that Mercedes drivers Hamilton and George Russell endured in Italy, Mercedes trackside engineering chief Andrew Shovlin explained: “With the ambient temperature at 34, nothing can be below that, you’ve also got numerous heat sources and it just pushes it up so the cockpit starts to get considerably above a driver’s body temperature, it’s then very hard for them to cool down and the heat just builds and builds.
“Now they’re used to driving in these very difficult environments, it’s just that when you get the very hottest races, it’s a bit extreme and it really does test them.”