Winless Hamilton ‘holds on to hope’

Lewis Hamilton completed his first winless season in Formula One on Sunday and then said “I’m glad it’s done.”

It was a year of fluctuating fortunes for Mercedes team which struggled to adapt to the new ground effect rules.

Although their results improved over the season, the team only won one race. George Russell took first last week in the Brazilian GP with the title already decided.

Last season, Hamilton won eight races as he lost his title to Max Verstappen. It was his lowest total since 2013. Before this year he had at least one victory in each of his 15 seasons.

On Sunday, he retired 3 laps from the end of the Abu Dhabi GP with hydraulics problems.