Ranking Lewis Hamilton’s 12 F1 seasons with Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton’s tallies of 84 victories and six world drivers’ titles with Mercedes, scored in 246 starts, are world championship records for a driver at one team. 
 
As Hamilton concludes his 12th Mercedes campaign, we’ve decided to revisit our ranking, first attempted at the start of 2023, of all his seasons at the Silver (and Black) Arrows. 

PLUS: Assessing Hamilton’s remarkable decade as a Mercedes F1 driver

We’ve rated them on Hamilton’s performances across each year, taking into account virtuoso races and errors, plus any difficulties or challenges he had to overcome and how he compared to his team-mates. 

12. 2024 – A tricky finish but there are highlights

Championship position: 7th (223 points) 
Wins: 2 
Poles: 0 
Autosport F1 Top 10 position: 9th 
 
Was Hamilton’s final season at Mercedes always going to be tough? Probably. It’s difficult for both parties when they know the end is nigh, Hamilton faced a rejuvenated George Russell in the other car and the W15, though capable of high peaks, was not entirely to the 39-year-old’s liking. 
 
The lowlights were low: dropping it on lap two at the Circuit of The Americas (a track where he previously excelled), being subpar at a wet Interlagos and disappointingly off Russell’s pace at Losail. 
 
But there were also days that reminded everyone the real Hamilton was still in there, when a sniff of victory presented itself. An emotional home win in the British GP – Hamilton’s first for more than two years – was followed by strong drives in Hungary and Belgium, where he inherited first after Russell’s disqualification but had been rapid all weekend anyway.  
 
Perhaps the Las Vegas GP summed up where Hamilton was in 2024. He didn’t get it together in Q3, while team-mate Russell took pole, then charged through the pack at a rate that suggested he could, perhaps should, have won. Five, even three, years earlier and that would have been a simple pole-dominant win conversion. 
 
Hamilton finished with a charging drive from 16th to fourth in the Abu Dhabi finale, overtaking Russell around the outside on the final lap. Overall, it was not the Mercedes sign-off he’d have wanted, but there were enough hints that Hamilton could enjoy an Indian summer if rejuvenated at Ferrari. 
 
Highlight: British GP

It has to be his record-breaking ninth Silverstone F1 success. After such a long wait since…