Following a great comeback drive at last Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton set out his targets for the coming weeks, claiming that he wants to “disconnect” from the world after his trying season in 2025.
Following a tough start to the weekend, Ferrari delivered a significantly improved performance on Sunday. Charles Leclerc started from fifth on the grid, but he immediately managed to pick off George Russell to move up into fourth place.
The Monegasque then kept the title favourite honest for the majority of the race. However, despite getting relatively close to Norris midway through the race, he was unable to mount an attack and missed out on a podium finish.
His team-mate, Lewis Hamilton suffered a shock early exit in qualifying by having been eliminated in Q1 for the third consecutive time. The Briton elected to start on the softs which enabled him to make up a few positions in the opening stages of the race.
He then made an early switch to the hard tyre. Although he dropped to the back of the field after his early stop, he made a series of overtaking manoeuvres to climb up the field.
His second stop saw him drop back again as he rejoined the track in P19. However, he was extremely quick once again, making up places after places, but his tyres started to lose grip in the closing stages of the race which meant he was unable to pick off Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso and had to settle for an eighth place.
Reflecting on his last race of the season, Hamilton said: “I’m pleased with today’s drive. We made good progress, overtook a lot of cars, and got ourselves back into the points. The two-stop strategy worked well so thank you to the team.
“It’s been a tough season, but the kindness and hard work of everyone at Ferrari means a lot to me. I stand with team and know we have better times ahead.
“After testing, I’m looking forward to taking some time to switch off, spend time with my family and friends and will come back refreshed and stronger in January.
Lewis 🗣️ “It’s been a tough season, but the kindness and hard work of everyone at Ferrari means a lot to me. I stand with team and know we have better times ahead.”
Closing the 2025 season in Abu Dhabi 🇦🇪 pic.twitter.com/iHC8PZ4jcg
— Scuderia Ferrari HP (@ScuderiaFerrari) December 7, 2025
Explaining his targets for the winter, Hamilton, who is taking part in today’s Pirelli tyre development test, admitted he intends to disconnect himself from the outer world after this trying season.
“At the moment, I’m only looking forward to the break. Just disconnecting, not speaking to anyone. No one’s going to be able to get a hold of me this winter. I won’t have my phone with me. I’m looking forward to that. Just completely unplugged from the matrix.”
“I’ve generally always had it (phone) around, but this time it’s going in the fricking bin. But I can’t wait to get away from all this. Every week, photoshoots and all that kind of stuff. That’s the thing I look forward to one day, not having to do it all,” the Briton concluded.
Signing off with a word for Lando Norris’ maiden F1 title, Hamilton added: “Congratulations to Lando. It’s great to see a fellow Brit win the championship. I’m proud of the work he’s put in over the years and this result is fully deserved.”