Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: FIA, Formula 1, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
Marcus Chan
Formula 1's governing body, the FIA, have announced a special plan for Lewis Hamilton's last race for Mercedes.
On Sunday, seven-time F1 world champion Hamilton will take part in his final race for Mercedes at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
From the 2025 season onwards, the Brit will be racing for Italian team Ferrari, partnering Monegasque star Charles Leclerc.
Ahead of his last race, it has been reported that the FIA have confirmed a special plan for Hamilton to join the post-race celebration.
In order to pay tribute to his last Mercedes outing, Hamilton will join the top three around the Yas Marina Circuit to celebrate with fans.
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As reported by GP Blog, the FIA's post-race document said: "After taking the chequered flag, the top three drivers and driver of car number 44 [Hamilton, ed.] should stay on the track, drop back of the field and then drive directly to the Grid, where there will be the opportunity for post-championship celebrations should they wish to do so."
However, Hamilton faces an uphill battle to score his final points for Mercedes after a disastrous qualifying session meant he will have to start from 16th place on the grid.
Speaking after qualifying, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff blasted his own team's mistake.
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He said: "I just need to apologise to Lewis and also everyone in the team that worked so hard in making it a great end for him.
"He was the quicker guy with that set-up we chose on the car to also experiment for next year and we totally let him down."
Wolff added: "An idiotic mistake of not going earlier. Inexcusable, inexcusable.
"I have rarely been so down about what has happened. Maybe it summarises the last races we have had with him, but this is the worst part of it because it was just idiotic."
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Meanwhile, Hamilton said: "We tried so hard with the set-up, we got the car in a great place, and it was looking good in P3 so I was really thinking 'maybe a podium is possible this weekend'.
"Then the timing was not optimised with the session because I was the last one on the track and obviously I ended up behind one of the Alpines right at the end, so I just ran out of time."