Teary Hamilton planning to bow out in style

Lewis Hamilton finally let his emotions get the better of him this week as the impact of leaving McLaren started to hit home.

Hamilton became teary-eyed yesterday when asked about his exit from a team he has been associated with for the last 14 years.

If there is a part of Hamilton questioning whether he has done the right thing in leaving a team that has scored more wins than any other since 1966 to join one with just a single victory in the last three years, then he is refusing to say.

For now, Hamilton readily concedes this weekend will be an emotional one for him, and it will not be a surprise if the tears flow fully when he steps out of his car at the end of the race at Interlagos.

“I’m going to miss them, fighting with Jenson [Button], fighting with McLaren to help them win races. I’m just proud to have contributed,” Hamilton said.

“When you think about it being the last time — and it’s on my mind a lot — then it’s very surreal, very strange, very sad in many ways.

“But it’s not the end of an era, it’s the end of a great chapter in my life.

“Hopefully I’ll have a second chapter to my life, but this is a very special one with McLaren and I really hope I can do it for them this weekend.”

Will he return one day?

“I don’t know,” Hamilton said. “You can never say never.”

Although no longer involved in the championship battle, Hamilton has designs on finishing his 14-year association with McLaren with back-to-back victories after completing his final Friday run-out with the team by setting the fastest times in both sessions. The 27-year-old, who has decided to join Mercedes on a three-year contract, topped the time-sheet with a lap around the undulating 4.309km track of one minute 14.026secs.

Sebastian Vettel was 0.274secs behind in his Red Bull. Team-mate Mark Webber found himself half a second off the pace, and had the Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso in close attendance, 0.527secs and 0.556secs adrift respectively.