Ranked: Lewis Hamilton's seasons at Mercedes from the worst to the best
Lewis Hamilton bids farewell to Mercedes as he moves on to Ferrari for the next chapter of his career. The British driver has had a 12-year stint with the team, and in the process, he's been very successful. The driver has won 6 world titles with the squad, and there was a time when the driver was considered the undisputed best driver on the grid.
As he leaves Mercedes, he's a seven-time world champion and has accumulated over 100 wins and pole positions. The 12-year stint began back in 2013 when many doubted Lewis Hamilton's move to Mercedes, and it would end with many not sure of what the future holds for the driver at Ferrari.
With that being said, how has Lewis Hamilton fared at Mercedes? What was his best season with the team, and what was his worst? Here we rank the 12 seasons of the driver with the team from the worst to the best.
Ranking Lewis Hamilton's seasons with Mercedes
#12: 2024
At the bottom, it has to be the most recent season in 2024, where Lewis Hamilton has lost both qualifying and races head to head against his teammate. The driver just couldn't get on top of the challenges put forth by the car, and while his teammate adapted better, Hamilton couldn't get the same results in the car.
#11: 2022
The 2022 F1 season also finds itself on the list as one of the worst years of Lewis Hamilton's career, as the driver found it hard to get to grips with the Mercedes not being a dominant car anymore. After the heartbreak of losing the title to Max Verstappen in 2021 due to controversial circumstances, the driver took some time to get back to his rhythm and perform at a high level.
#10 2016
Many feel that Lewis Hamilton was unlucky to lose the 2016 F1 title to Nico Rosberg, but the reality is that there were far too many moments where the driver made too many mistakes and brought his rival back into the title fight.
The fact that a driver who is considered the most skillful and talented in the sport can lose the title to his teammate, who is probably not on the same driving level, is surely an indictment of sorts.
#9 2013
The first year at Mercedes for Lewis was supposed to be the one where he got his feet under the table and adapt to the new car. He didn't expect the car to be a frontrunner from day 1, but that was exactly what happened as the German team made a big jump from 2012 to 2013.
The season was still a strong one for Lewis Hamilton, but it was evident that he was not quite comfortable with the car, and that made things closer than expected with teammate Nico Rosberg.
#8 2023
Lewis Hamilton received a lot of accolades from the pundits for the kind of season he put together in 2023. The driver came mightily close to beating Sergio Perez in P2 in the championship.
With that being said, while the season was strong, it wasn't as strong as Lewis has been in general at Mercedes. There were far too many off weekends as well as ones where George Russell outclassed him in the car.
#7 2014
The year 2014 was an important one for Lewis Hamilton because it meant a lot of things. The first of them was the driver getting back the winning feeling as he won his first title since 2008.
What was even more impressive was his comeback in the championship. The driver had lost a ton of points due to reliability issues and bad luck, and things were heating up between him and his teammate. To make a comeback in the championship and clinch the title was very impressive.
#6 2019
The 2019 F1 season was the year when Lewis Hamilton showed a more mature site and became a bit more measured in the manner in which he pursued his racing. That meant cutting down on mistakes and ensuring that he stayed in the race until the end and got the best possible result in arguably the fastest car. This approach helped him a lot as he won the title in 2019 quite convincingly, even though there was maybe an outside threat from his teammate Valtteri Bottas.
#5 2021
Some might find it curious that we've put the season where Hamilton essentially lost the title amongst the top 5, but this has to do with the fact that he hung on until the bitter end against Max Verstappen in one of the most intense title battles that we've seen in recent seasons.
Hamilton went toe-to-toe with Verstappen, who had still not yet completely developed this ruthless reputation and was still a bit of an unknown entity.
#4 2017
2017 was the year when Lewis Hamilton just took things to another level with Mercedes aiding him all of the way through. In the second half of the season, as the German team found its second wind, so did Hamilton, and he made the most of the car under him to cruise to the title.
#3 2020
In what was his last title triumph with Mercedes, what stood out from Lewis Hamilton was his ability to nurture his mature style and make it all the more lethal. He was far more consistent than earlier, he made far fewer mistakes, and he knew he didn't have to take too many risks to win races.
This was Lewis Hamilton being the overall package, and it brought him the seventh title with a momentous win in the Turkish GP.
#2 2015
The 2015 F1 season is arguably one of the better title campaigns that Lewis Hamilton has put together, with one of the biggest reasons being the driver ascending to a different level as compared to his teammate Nico Rosberg.
The 2015 F1 season is arguably what both the 2014 and 2016 title battles were also supposed to be. The British driver didn't make many mistakes; he was always nailed-on when it came to performance, and he was just operating at a level that Rosberg could not contend with.
#1 2018
2018 will go down as the best title campaign for Lewis Hamilton, as the driver made the difference in the championship with some sensational drives. He was brilliant in Monza, simply sensational in Germany, and to cap it all off, he was breathtaking in Singapore.
This was a season where the driver's ascendance was matched by the team's, and hence we ended up with the result that we had.