Technical director James Allison says Lewis Hamilton lifted the team ahead of his final race for Mercedes in Abu Dhabi, where he started deep in the field after being eliminated in Q1 due to an errant bollard.
Hamilton was on the back foot when he was sent out at the end of Q1, before a loose bollard — dislodged by Kevin Magnussen as the Haas driver was trying to get out of Hamilton’s way — wedged itself under his floor. That led to Hamilton starting in 16th place, but he charged through the field to finish fourth.
“I think it would be very hard to summarize such a complex set of feelings,” Allison said. “We would of course love this whole season, let alone the last race, to be more of a fairy tale ending to a partnership that has set all the benchmarks in Formula 1.
“It would have been fitting if we could have finished on the podium at the very least or ideally on the top step, but that was not to be. That said, I think it could not have been more well handled by Lewis and by the team. I think that owes a massive amount to the respect that there is between Lewis and the team and the huge amount of appreciation for everything we have achieved together.”
Allison says the catalyst for Hamilton’s impressive comeback was the seven-time world champion not allowing Mercedes to be downbeat ahead of the race.
“Qualifying was a difficult time for Lewis in this event with his run-in with the bollard. He was disappointed; we were even more disappointed for him,” Allison said. “And yet in the debrief afterwards when we were down in the mouth, he was telling us, ‘Look, put your chins up, we’re going to make the most of tomorrow and remember all the times when we’ve got this right together.’
“I think that is what it feels like. We have had some difficult seasons recently but over the span of this relationship no other driver-team partnership has come close to matching what we have done together and it has just been a fantastic run for all of us. We could not wish him more well than we did on that last day together.”
There was still a tinge of regret from Allison, though, as he admitted Hamilton would have had every chance of finishing on the podium in his final race for Mercedes but for the qualifying incident.
“It is possible, yes. I think he had been pretty speedy during the weekend prior, was feeling confident in the car,” Allison said. “The gaps actually between P5 and the front row were quite small and had he wiggled his way into Q2 without the untimely intervention of the bollard, then I think he would have had a strong qualifying session overall and then would have been obviously much better placed to fight in the race than eventually he was.”
