Lewis Hamilton reveals the brutal way Mercedes made him pay for F1 exit

Lewis Hamilton has revealed a 'painful' event with his old Mercedes team, following his announcement that he would be leaving the Brackley-based outfit.

Hamilton is now a Ferrari driver, having made the switch earlier this year, and is preparing to challenge for an unprecedented eighth world championship title in 2025.

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Having experienced over a decade of success with Mercedes where he claimed six of his seven championships, Hamilton suffered three seasons which only yielded two grand prix victories, dropping further and further away from championship contention.

As a result of this, the Brit announced that he would be leaving Mercedes and instead joining Ferrari from 2025 onwards, where he is now looking forward to the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

How did Mercedes react to Hamilton leaving?

Hamilton is now 40 years of age, and is running out of time to break Michael Schumacher's record of seven championship titles, but his shock move has led to him proclaiming that he's feeling 'more positive' than he's felt for a 'long time'.

Surprisingly, Hamilton announced that he would be moving to Ferrari at the start of 2024, leaving 24 races for the Brit to navigate with his Mercedes team before his exit.

Now, he has revealed in an interview the difficulties of being with his old team after the announcement, giving the example of an off-track paintballing event with his colleagues.

Hamilton described the event as happening briefly after his departure had been confirmed, and revealed that he was on the receiving end of the team's wrath.

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"These are guys I’ve been with so many years," Hamilton told Time magazine. "They lit me up, hard, it was so painful.

"There is no bad blood. Absolutely not. We won so many championships," he said before going on to evaluate the team's chances in the coming years: "They have all the ingredients to win world championships, and they will win more world championships, I have no doubt."

Hamilton's former team-mate George Russell is now the senior driver at Mercedes, with 18-year-old Italian Kimi Antonelli partnering the Brit as the team head into a new era.

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