Lewis Hamilton created a motivation group with Mercedes for the 2021 season
Lewis Hamilton has turned to WhatsApp to motivate his Mercedes colleagues during their intense title battle with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in 2021, a team member has revealed.
Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen faced off [in a memorable way from the first to the last race of this season]() with the Dutchman ultimately winning narrowly after a dramatic finale in Abu Dhabi. A few years later, Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes’ track engineering director, offered new insight into Lewis Hamilton’s behind-the-scenes approach, especially as the season reached its peak.
In an homage episode of Beyond The Grid dedicated to Lewis Hamilton before his departure from Mercedes, Andrew Shovlin shared a revealing anecdote: During the last four races of 2021, I was invited to a WhatsApp group simply titled We will do this. Lewis had added a few people to the group, and the objective was clear: we had to win the remaining four races.
« When I saw that he was the one who had created the group, I felt this conviction: Yes, in fact, we are going to do it because if he believes he will succeed, we are here to support him… He has this faith in himself so strong that it almost seems to make things possible. The level of commitment, dedication, and attention to detail he showed at that moment to ensure we could win those four races in a row was incredible. »
Although Lewis Hamilton won three of the last four races, his defeat to Verstappen at Yas Marina allowed the Dutchman to clinch the title with a lead of just eight points.
« We all know what happened in the last laps in Abu Dhabi, and it is difficult to draw any satisfaction from the way this year ended, apart from the fact that we did what was needed. We reached the objectives we had to reach, » added Andrew Shovlin. « The car was at the required level. It was as fast as it needed to be. Events beyond our control decided otherwise, but it’s this kind of thing that makes Lewis unique. That’s why he is the best of the best. »
Eleven years after joining the team, Lewis Hamilton made his emotional farewell to Mercedes in recent days, with visits to Petronas headquarters in Malaysia as well as to the factories in Brackley and Brixworth in the UK. In 2025, the seven-time world champion will begin a new chapter in his legendary career by replacing Carlos Sainz at Ferrari to team up with Charles Leclerc, thus continuing his F1 career until he is 40.
