Alexander Rossi sends straightforward message on F1's "Pity Party" over Lewis Hamilton's team switch

Alexander Rossi and James Hinchcliffe discussed Lewis Hamilton’s departure from Mercedes on their podcast Off Track with Hinch and Rossi’s latest episode. The seven-time world champion will be joining Ferrari in 2025 after a successful 12-year partnership with Mercedes.

While discussing the Briton's departure, Rossi shared his opinion about the emotional goodbye. Alexander Rossi said:

“I’m a little tired of the stroking for Lewis. Like he's not leaving. He's just changing teams to arguably a more prestigious team, at least historically, I'm not saying necessarily currently. He's getting more money and is probably going to be more famous because he's in red and is representing the Scuderia. Why is it like this pity party of like ‘Oh, thanks for everything Lewis’. Okay, he's ending a legacy at Mercedes but Mercedes should be more sad than like anybody.” (10:35 onwards)

James Hinchcliffe went on to support Alexander Rossi’s statement. He pointed out how Hamilton was given a special place to park his car and do donuts on the grid. The former IndyCar driver suggested that it would've been fine if Hamilton had retired. But Hamilton is instead moving to a team that has a race-winning roster.

Lewis Hamilton won 6 titles at Mercedes with 84 wins and 153 podiums. During his time with the Brackley outfit, the Silver Arrows won 8 constructor's titles. It was also the longest driver-team partnership in the history of F1. Hinchcliffe pointed out that anything that Mercedes did to celebrate Hamilton's legacy was fine, but F1 making that effort wasn't acceptable.

Lewis Hamilton had an emotional radio exchange with his engineer Peter Bonnington during his in-lap and the Brit was spotted in tears after the race. However, the seven-time champion had a great final race for Mercedes where he started in P16 and finished in P4 after overtaking George Russell on the last lap. Alexander Rossi also discussed the Brit's 2024 Abu Dhabi GP performance.

“I have a lot of sympathy for Lewis”: Alexander Rossi praises Hamilton's Abu Dhabi 2024 performance

Alexander Rossi during the post race conference at the NTT IndyCar Series Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey - Source: Getty

Alexander Rossi is a former F1 driver and currently races in the IndyCar series. Recently, Lewis Hamilton was sent out late in Q1 at the Abu Dhabi GP which affected his final lap. Rossi related with Hamilton and hailed the Briton’s comeback drive.

Rossi said (via the Off Track with Hinch and Rossi podcast):

“He got super boned in qualifying. I have a lot of sympathy for Lewis because I feel like some of those things that have happened to him this year have happened to me. He gets kind of screwed with the timing, leaving pit lane and traffic and all this thing, these sort of things.” (12:20 onwards)

“And then on his one time lap that he has for something good to happen, someone that is Kevin Magnussen tries to do the right thing, get out of his way, Hits a bollard, That bollard gets stuck Lewis's car, Lewis qualifies 18th. When he had a car that was a top six car, I think on pace all weekend. So that was sad to see. But yes, what an amazing recovery he had," he added.

Alexander Rossi drove the Arrow McLaren for the last couple of years but made the announcement of moving to Ed Carpenter Racing in September 2024.