Wolff reflects on an exceptional year

Mercedes AMG Petronas team boss Toto Wolff reflected on an 'exceptional' year for the Brackley team.
Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri BottasLewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas
Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas

World champion Lewis Hamilton signed off with another victory in Sunday’s final race - the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

It was the Mercedes driver’s 73rd career Formula One victory, his series-leading 11th this season and his fourth at Yas Marina Circuit.

Wolff said: “We have had an exceptional year overall at Mercedes, with all the series we have won and that is a highlight for me.

“When Lewis was travelling the world to various fashion shows to launch his collection and many people were saying on Thursday how can you allow him to be in New York and Shanghai? And then he just killed everybody on the track on Saturday.”

Hamilton said: “This year has been a very uplifting experience for me. I wanted to come here and make sure that I left no stone unturned; the team did an exceptional job all year long, so I really wanted to deliver for them and end the season off strong. I think I was able to do that and I’m really grateful for all the support throughout the entire year.

“I’ve been able to be a better me all year long and I will continue to try to work on that and try to work on the energy that I’m projecting to people. I had a lot of fun in the car today - I love driving, I loved driving every minute today and I hope I have many more days to go.”

Bottas added: “It would have been nice to have a better ending to the season, but this race probably sums up the year pretty well - it started off well but then it went downhill from there.

“This season didn’t go the way I had hoped, so I’m actually quite happy that it’s over. I will be pretty busy in the next couple of weeks, but I’m looking forward to a bit of a break and a fresh start in 2019. I will analyse everything from this season to come back stronger next year.”