F1 | Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton: “Happy with this weekend and with being on the podium”

Hamilton's season ends a bit subdued as just a week ago he was still positive for covid-19 and probably didn't imagine he could take part in this grand prix and win the podium. The Yes Marina race did not present any twists and Lewis simply followed the "trail" of the two cars in front of him, and finished in third position. A performance certainly not representative of what was the dominance of Mercedes and of Hamilton himself, who this year won his seventh world title, but it seems that the consequences of the coronavirus are still evident on Lewis, not in top form and visibly tested on the podium.

"Considering the past few weeks, I would say that I am happy with this weekend and with being on the podium – admitted the seven-time world champion – obviously, it didn't go the way I wanted, but congratulations to Max and Red Bull, they were very fast today and deserved the win. This weekend they were really out of our league, we couldn't keep up with them. It was great to see Alex there with us too. From my point of view, it was a difficult race, I'm really happy that it's over. But let's look on the bright side, I managed to get to the end, last week I wouldn't even have imagined being able to get in the car. I'm grateful to finally be healthy, during the winter break I hope to recover to start training again, get my body back to its usual shape. Finally, a huge thank you to the whole team for their continued support and hard work. They've been great all season, and it's great to finish the year with two podiums".

The focus now remains on what happens behind the scenes: the black king's contract with the Brackley team expires at the end of 2020, and we still don't know for sure whether Lewis will be on the grid in 2021. Of course, the entry list sees it appear next to Bottas' name for the second season and Hamilton himself assures on his social channels that he wants to continue writing history with the three-pointed star, but the official signature is still missing: as we know, in Formula 1 you never say never .