Lewis Hamilton has had a difficult start to the 2024 season. In his final year with the Silver Arrows, the W15’s performance on track is threatening to make it three winless seasons in a row for the seven-time world champion. That being said, at a recent event for sponsors WhatsApp, the Briton reunited with the machinery that got him his last win in F1 – the W12.
Hamilton was in New York earlier today at a promotional event for WhatsApp. The instant messaging giants released a bespoke Mercedes F1 car emoji that will replace their generic race car emoji henceforth. As the Sports Business Journal revealed, both Hamilton and Toto Wolff were in attendance as the emoji showed up to the entire world on the façade of the iconic Empire State Building.
There was yet another surprise in store for the fans, however. Hamilton did a show run in the W12 for the fans on 5th Avenue. As soon as the videos of the event went viral on social media, fans stormed to X (formerly Twitter) to react with the 39-year-old reuniting with his old pal.
Some fans also reacted by comparing the W12 to the current generation of Mercedes’ F1 cars. Since the ground-effect regulations came into play in 2022, the Silver Arrows have struggled for pace and results. The W12 was the 2021 challenger for Hamilton, who lost the world championship to Max Verstappen that year at the highly controversial Abu Dhabi GP.
The last time Lewis Hamilton won a Formula 1 Grand Prix was behind the wheel of the W12. After an intense race-long battle with Verstappen, the #44 driver triumphed on the streets of the Jeddah Corniche Street Circuit at the Saudi Arabian GP. Since then, he has failed to win a race for two straight seasons.
Lewis Hamilton reveals the W15 has let him down
After the struggles of 2023, the Mercedes team revealed that for this season, they were attempting to completely revamp the concept of their car. Hence, when they revealed the W15 to the world, there was a sense of optimism at Brackley.
Even before the season began, Hamilton had announced that he would be leaving Mercedes for Ferrari in 2025. Regardless, he was hopeful that in his last year with the team, he would be able to fight for wins again.
The start of the season has crushed the Briton’s hopes. According to Formula1.com, he said, “I think for everyone in the team, when so much work has gone on throughout the winter for everybody and you come in excited, motivated and driven, and then you’re with the mindset that you’re going to be fighting for wins, and then obviously that’s not the case.”
Hamilton would have been overjoyed to step into the W12. However, his respite is only temporary. The Briton now gears up to resume his racing duties with the W15 at the 2024 Miami GP, which will take place this weekend.
