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F1 fans were left a bit perplexed at Lewis Hamilton abruptly leaving Mercedes' celebratory group video after their P2 finish in the 2023 Constructor's Championship.
The German team held Ferrari off at the Abu Dhabi GP, finishing in the points with both cars compared to Charles Leclerc's solo effort in P2 for the Italian team. As a result, Mercedes edged Ferrari by three points to claim the runner-up position, behind the dominant Red Bull.
However, Lewis Hamilton did not have a good weekend in the desert; he finished a lowly P9, while his teammate George Russell finished P3. Hamilton's frustration was quite palpable in the team's celebratory video, where he looked aloof.
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Several fans reacted to the video, with one saying about Hamilton:
"Just turns around and leaves. Auch."
Here are some more reactions on X (formerly called Twitter):
Lewis Hamilton skeptical about catching Red Bull in 2024
The seven-time world champion expressed concern after the Abu Dhabi GP, as he finished over 17 seconds behind eventual winner Max Verstappen. He told Sky Sports about the wide disparity:
"It's not been a great year in general. The fact I survived it. Probably that's about it. At this moment, I don't really know (about next year). For Red Bull to win by 17 seconds, and they haven't developed their car since August is definitely a concern.
"We have learned a lot about the car, and it's just down to the team now. They know what they need to do. Whether or not we will get there, we will see."
While analysing the 2023 season, the Mercedes driver said via F1.com:
"I’m happy for the team that we’ve managed to secure P2 in the Constructor’s Championship, it was a great effort by the team at the track and both in Brackley and Brixworth.
"But we’re not where we want to be yet, we want to be competing for the championship and race wins and this weekend showed that we need to dig deep and work hard during the winter to get back to where we want to be and come back stronger next year."
It will be interesting to see if Mercedes can close the gap to Red Bull over the winter and be more competitive in 2024.
