Hamilton's final lap with Mercedes

Having etched his name in the sport's history, the British race car driver joins Ferrari next season, seeking to regain his dominance before retiring

- Rudraneil Sengupta

Lewis, it's hammer time..."

The most feared message over the radio during a Formula 1 race for a decade, those words rang out one last time on 8 December 2024.

After 246 Grand Prix races spread across 12 seasons, notching up a record 84 victories (most for a driver with a single constructor) and a record six Driver's Championships (most for a driver with a single constructor), the season-ending Abu Dhabi GP marked the end of the most iconic partnership in F1 history-Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes.

Next year, Hamilton, who will turn 40, will be driving for Ferrari, "fulfilling a childhood dream" before he walks away from the sport, in which he holds every single major record, for good.

At Abu Dhabi, the race unfolded for Hamilton like it has so many times before-a difficult qualifying saw the dreadlocked British man start 16th on the grid, before some sensational driving saw him pass car after car to take the chequered flag at fourth place.

After the race, Hamilton spoke about what it felt like to hear the famous "hammer time" instruction from Mercedes engineer Peter 'Bono' Bonnington for the final time.

"When (Bono) said it was 'hammer time', I did notice in the moment, I was like, 'that's the last time I'm going to hear that'," Hamilton told the press. "It really clicked for me in that moment. "Obviously I did the whole race, and there was so much to do in it, but just to be able to hold onto that moment, because it's history now..."