Hamilton heads for hibernation with a word of warning

Lewis Hamilton is confident Mercedes can recapture former glories (Picture: Getty Images)

It’s been a runaway season, what with Max Verstappen dominating as completely as he did, and Lewis Hamilton says things are looking equally ominous next year for Red Bull’s rivals.

The season-ending grand prix in Abu Dhabi saw the Dutchman take a 19th grand-prix victory of the year.

Hamilton warned: ‘Red Bull won by 17 seconds and have not touched the car since August. So, you can pretty much guess where they’re going to be next year.’

It is true that in battling between themselves, Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren and Aston Martin have put development time into their cars throughout the autumn to secure their optimum championship position.

Red Bull on the other hand were able to switch their focus to the 2024 car much earlier. And since the August break, they only lost one race.

Hamilton sometimes takes a mood dip at the end of a season, when exhaustion from giving it everything catches up with him.

Despite not winning a race for the second year in succession, he has left everything on the field. He says he’ll come back fighting after some much-needed hibernation.

‘As for the future, myself and the team know we’ll be back on top, and we know there’s a lot of work to do to make that happen,’ he posted on Instagram yesterday.

‘I promise you, getting there will be exhilarating, and seasons like this will make it all the more satisfying when we do. Till next year.’

Fernando Alonso has enjoyed a vintage campaign (Picture: Shutterstock)

As thoughts turn to 2024 we can reflect on what has proven to be Fernando Alonso’s best season in a decade. He finished fourth in the rankings for Aston Martin, ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

At one point in the season finale, it looked like the Spaniard had brake-tested Hamilton but the veteran explained after the race he had actually been trying to let the Englishman by so as to then benefit from DRS on the straight.

Responding to Hamilton’s allegation he had been driving dangerously, Alonso replied: ‘Lewis is obviously very clever, understands the sport really good and has a lot of experience. But I have more.’

Max maintains status quo as Ferrari pay penalty for Perez

It ended up as an all-too familiar story as the curtain came down on the season, although Charles Leclerc did seem to have the legs on pole-starter Max Verstappen going into the first corner at Abu Dhabi, but backed out of it.

He had two other opportunities to stick the nose of his Ferrari down the inside of the Red Bull on the first lap and try to slam the door shut, but each time – perhaps wisely – Leclerc judged it conservatively.

After all, Max had nothing to lose. He’d already claimed the drivers’ title with five races to go, and Red Bull the constructors’ championship with six rounds to spare. Further down the pack, though, there was still plenty to play for.

Max Verstappen (centre), Charles Leclerc (right) and George Russell (left) enjoy the final podium celebrations of the year (Picture: AFP via Getty Images)

Leclerc knew Verstappen was going to be unbeatable and the Dutchman’s victory came as no surprise. Better to preserve what he called ‘tyre juice’, concentrate on finishing second and hope that would be enough to leapfrog Mercedes in the standings.

The joker in the pack was Sergio ‘Checo’ Perez. Perez had another poor qualifying, starting ninth, but in the race he had real speed and could have given Red Bull its first one-two finish since Monza.

Instead, he received a five-second penalty for banging wheels with Lando Norris late in the race, to be added after the chequered flag. It was one of those racing incidents where no actual damage was done, and I can’t help thinking the stewards would have been better off ignoring it.

George Russell, who finished fourth on the track, was promoted to third and this allowed Mercedes to gain three points on Ferrari and seal the runner-up spot.

The stewards have given Checo a formal warning after he spoke his mind over the team radio: ‘The stewards are a joke, man. I cannot believe it. They have been very bad this year but this is a joke.’

It was another tough race for Sergio Perez (Picture: Getty Images)

Leclerc had been in close communication with his pitwall and was watching the screens around the circuit to see where Perez was relative to Russell. He actually let the Mexican past in an inspired chess move to try to allow the Red Bull to stretch its lead over the chasing Merc by more than five seconds while the Ferrari – the salami in the sandwich – kept within five ticks of the Red Bull.

He hoped Perez would pull away and thus boot his rival off the podium. What he was not prepared to do though, which is the mark of a gentleman racer rarely seen these days, was actually hold up Russell.

George had done enough to earn third, despite suffering from a distracting cough, and successfully defend Mercedes’ extra share of the prize money – an estimated £7.15million bonus.

Other teams left smiling with an Abu Dhabi windfall were McLaren, who finished ahead of Aston Martin, and Williams who managed to secure seventh place and a £7.15m boost over AlphaTauri despite the best efforts of Yuki Tsunoda, who posted his best qualifying of the year and finished the race eighth to earn his team four points.