Lewis Hamilton thanks McLaren workforce

Lewis Hamilton on Wednesday (29 July) addressed the entire Vodafone McLaren Mercedes workforce to personally thank them for their superhuman efforts in helping to transform this year’s MP4-24 car into a grand prix winner.

After every race, Lewis joins his fellow drivers and engineers at the McLaren Technology Centre for an in-depth technical debrief of the race weekend and to start working ahead of the next grand prix on the calendar. While Lewis had already planned to talk to the team ahead of Formula 1′s annual summer break, his message carried an extra poignancy as it came just days after his first victory of the season at the Hungaroring.

Flanked by hundreds of team members wearing their trademark rocket red victory T-shirts, Lewis said: “This has been an incredibly difficult season for all of us, but Sunday’s result is payback for all your time, effort, energy and passion. And I wanted to come here and thank you for that.”

“At the start of the season, we were barely competitive, but the amount of work that every single one of you put into transforming our fortunes has been incredible. I’ve always said it: Vodafone McLaren Mercedes is a team of winners. And the most amazing thing about this team is its fighting spirit: you never give up. So when I get into the car, I know all the effort that has gone into getting us to this point, and it makes me want to push even harder to repay you.

“Winning on Sunday was our victory,” he continued. “The work that you’ve done this season has been incredible, I have never seen this place so intensely busy and productive. And the result in Hungary showed that there is definitely light at the end of the tunnel, and that makes the job easier and more satisfying for everyone. You have all been amazing and I hope you are as proud of this win as I am.”