"It looks like two cars split in half and put together": Lewis Hamilton's savage dig at Mercedes livery in Drive to Survive

Lewis Hamilton took a savage dig at the 2024 Mercedes livery during the W15 car's unveiling in February 2024. The Briton mentioned how he thought that the new design looked like two different cars put together.

When Mercedes returned to F1 in 2010, it sported a silver livery, which aligned with its branding as the Silver Arrows. They kept this color scheme until 2020 but then shifted to a sleek black color scheme as a stand against racism amid the Black Lives Matter movement.

However, in the following years, the German team was stuck in an identity crisis as it tried out black and silver liveries alternatively in the last four years. In 2024, they tried to incorporate both, as the top half of the car was silver, while the bottom half was black.

Lewis Hamilton was not a fan of this design idea, and he made himself clear in front of a live audience during the W15 livery unveiling in February 2024. This behind-the-scenes moment was captured and showcased in the latest season of Drive to Survive, which dropped on Friday.

An X user shared the clip, wherein the 7x champion was seen critiquing the livery, and he compared it to the 2023 all-black car design.

"Can we be honest about the livery?" Hamilton asked. "I've been trying, I've been holding back 'cause it's not as good as the last one. It looks like two cars split in half and put together," he added.

"It's just the truth, I can't help it," he said, as the crowd erupted in laughter.

While Lewis Hamilton has moved over to Ferrari, Mercedes has seemed to settle on a similar design pattern for their 2025 W16 challenger, which boasts a familiar silver color on the nose while the majority of the rest of the car is black.

The main talking point about the 2025 car did not come from the car's color scheme but rather the lack of an INEOS sponsorship on the airbox. This sparked rumours of divestment by the British company in the Mercedes AMG F1 team.

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Toto Wolff and George Russell reacted hilariously to Lewis Hamilton's savage livery remarks

Lewis Hamilton, Toto Wolff and George Russell at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, 2024 - Source: Getty

Toto Wolff replied to Lewis Hamilton's comments about the 2024 livery, saying that they should design a special livery for the 7x world champion. George Russell added that they should use that special livery in 2025 so that Hamilton can see it in front of him while he drives his Ferrari.

Wolff and Russell engaged in taking a subtle dig at Hamilton moving away from Mercedes, as the move was already announced in February 2024. This was an unusual situation as driver moves are not usually announced this far in advance.

After Hamilton's remarks about the 2024 livery, Wolff replied:

"Why don't we do a Lewis edition? Choose a race."

Russell then added a joke, saying:

"And then we'll bring it next year, so that when we're ahead of you, you can look at it from behind and get a good view."

The whole crowd, and even Hamilton himself, laughed at this comment. The 40-year-old mentioned how he will probably have to handle similar jokes throughout the year.