“It’s all feeling very surreal,” reckons Hamilton ahead of his final race with Mercedes

Ahead of his final race with Mercedes, seven-time F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton has reckoned that “it’s all feeling very surreal” at the season-closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Mercedes looked brutally quick over a single lap last time out in Qatar, but the team appears to lack pace at the Yas Marina Circuit. The first practice session took place saw Lewis Hamilton take P3 while his team-mate George Lewis finished close behind in P4.

However, the second one-hour session was staged under floodlights in very different conditions, and Hamilton dropped back to P5. Russell seemed to struggle for the ideal balance over a single flying lap, and took only P13.

Reflecting on his day, the seven-time F1 world champion has reckoned that “it’s all feeling very surreal” at the season-closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

“It’s all feeling very surreal being my last weekend with the team. I’m trying to be as present as I can and enjoy every moment. I’ve enjoyed driving the car, working with everyone in the garage, with the engineers, and I’m just trying to capture the moments as much as I can.

“I’m aiming to channel all of my emotions into the car and the team because I have so much love for them and as always, I want to do really well for them. This weekend I have one last chance to go for it and try to do so.”

Hamilton explained that he had a good feeling behind the wheel of his W15 which means that he is not planning to make significant tweaks to the setup of his car.

“I’m not planning on changing too much on the car tonight. We obviously have some work to do as the McLarens are still fast and the Ferraris are also within that mix too. So, we do need to find some time.

“Overall, though, my feeling with the car has been good today. It’s never easy to determine what our long run pace looks like, but it didn’t seem too bad today so hopefully that’s a positive for us. Ultimately, we have some work to do on our single lap pace and I hope tomorrow we can be closer to those ahead of us,” added the Briton.