Lewis Hamilton says his dramatic last lap move on Mercedes team mate George Russell in Abu Dhabi was a case of “now or never” after his successful chase.
Hamilton was on a different strategy to rivals, having started from 16th on the hard tyres and run a long opening stint.
In the latter part of the race he had to close the gap to fourth place Russell before passing him with a dramatic round the outside move on the last lap.
In Las Vegas Hamilton put in a similar charge from 10th on the grid, but he couldn’t quite catch leader Russell on that occasion.
“He was driving great,” said Hamilton. “Obviously, he started a lot further ahead than I did, so to catch the 14 seconds was tough. He was putting in good laps. And so it took perfection, like I had to really put together the best laps I could possibly do.
“Obviously, in Vegas, I was catching for a period of time and then stopped. So I was trying to make sure that I kept taking chunks out of that gap.
“I only caught him right at that last lap, and I was like, it’s now or never, so I just went for it.”
The race also saw Hamilton’s race engineer Peter Bonnington call for “Hammertime” for the final time.
“When he told me, I was like, I can’t remember the last time he told me Hammertime!,” said Hamilton. “So I remember I told Bono to say Hammertime back in the first year together, I was like, don’t tell me just go faster. I said tell me it’s hammer time, and I know what it is.
“What a roller coaster ride I’ve had with Bono. He’s been one of my closest friends for many years, and it’s something I didn’t expect to I didn’t expect to have, because he worked with Michael Schumacher, he’s worked with great drivers.
“For the longest he stood by me, and for an engineer to stick with someone, as frustrating and painful as it can sometimes be, he stood by me every single day without fail.”
Asked if such a drive gave him confidence heading into 2025 he said: “It’s not that I needed it for the confidence. I’ve always had the confidence, but definitely, really nice to finish off with a strong, hard battle and no mistakes, solid drive.
“It’s been a really, really turbulent year, probably the longest year in my life, I would say, because we’ve known it from the beginning that we’re leaving, and it’s like a relationship when you’ve told your whoever the counterpart is that you’re leaving, but you’re living together for a whole year! Lots of ups and downs emotionally. But we finished off I think on a high today.”
