George Russell took both hands off his steering wheel to applaud Lewis Hamilton after the two Mercedes drivers crossed the line in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.

Hamilton had passed Russell for fourth place a few corners beforehand, in a daring move around the outside of the banked Turn 9 after reeling in his Mercedes team-mate during the closing stages.

George Russell acknowledges Lewis Hamilton as Mercedes career draws to a close

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

The Mercedes duo were instructed to keep their racing clean in the final laps in Abu Dhabi, and it was the seven-time World Champion who managed to sweep around the outside of his team-mate for fourth place on the road come the chequered flag.

That represented a 12-place rise in the race for Hamilton, and despite losing out on their final lap together, Russell was seen drawing alongside his compatriot as they headed towards Turn 1 on their cooldown lap.

He took both hands off his steering wheel and clapped in recognition of Hamilton, whose 12-season stint at Mercedes ended on Sunday.

“We’ve been off the pace this whole weekend, and it was quite I felt like it was quite a fitting way to finish with Lewis, just one second apart after these three years,” Russell reflected to media including PlanetF1.com after the race.

“And to be honest, I’m actually just really happy for him that he had a great final race, because I think he deserved it – the team deserved to give him this send-off.

“We always race hard but fairly and [it] came down to to the wire ultimately. For me, having these three years together, learned so much from from Lewis as a driver, as a person.

“Today, he deserved to to finish ahead of me because he’s been quicker this whole weekend, and as I said, I’m just proud to have had these these years.”

Russell ended the season 22 points ahead of Hamilton in the Drivers’ Championship, with new team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli set to join him at Mercedes for the 2025 season.