Lewis Hamilton made sure to leave a "special" welcome message to as he contended with the emotions of leaving after 11 years. It was last season when the Brit stunningly revealed his decision to leave the Silver Arrows in order to join Charles Leclerc at for the 2025 season.

's announcement caused seismic shock across the sporting world but allowed the seven-time world champion to enjoy a farewell tour of sorts throughout the season knowing the season would be his last as a Mercedes driver. It was that overwhelming emotion that saw the 40-year-old express his feelings after the Italian Grand Prix which rounded off the season's European tour.

Mercedes' Race Team Co-ordinator Stephen Lord - one of Hamilton's closest colleagues - discussed Hamilton's post-race actions in a special episode of and the realisation of his impending departure that saw him embrace one of the team's employees.

With Mercedes possessing a race base in Europe, drivers have their own rooms equipped with their kit and the thought of it being the last time he'll see it sent the Brit into an emotional state. "Lewis had finished engineering," Lord said. "I think the engineers had left so Lewis was upstairs in the room on his own. I popped up, grabbed a couple of bits, came back down the stairs, and Lewis came down the stairs ready to leave and head home.

"He got to the bottom of the stairs and he stopped, then he turned around and he went back upstairs. I thought 'he's forgotten something,' didn't think much of it. He came back down about 10 minutes later and he grabbed a guy that works for the team, Carlos, who's our Head of Race Team Logistics.

"And you could see that Lewis was really quite emotional and he grabbed Carlos and said, 'It's only just occurred to me, I'm never going to see that room ever again. I'm really emotional. I can't leave. I feel kind of sad to walk away from that room because I've been in that room for so many years and I'm never going to see it again.' He was really quite touched that he was leaving it behind."

After making his exit, Lord made the poignant discovery of Hamilton wishing Antonelli - who became the youngest driver ever to take a F1 pole position in the sprint event at the Miami Grand Prix on a record-breaking weekend for the 18-year-old - well with a handwritten note amid his arrival after the season.

"I walked into the room and on the wall there's quite a long, handwritten note," he added. "It was a note to Kimi and it was basically welcoming him to his new room, and it was wishing him the best of luck, saying some really nice things about the team and how 'if you care for them, they'll care for you because they're a great team.'

"I thought, 'wow, what a nice thing to do.' And actually we've had glass cut and it's now covered in the room so it will be there forever more. I thought I'd just go into the bathroom and make sure that everything's been packed away and we've got all we need.

"I walked into the bathroom and next to the toilet, above the toilet roll holder, was 'Lewis was here' with a big smiley face and I thought, 'okay, I like that.' But the note to Kimi was pretty special."

While Hamilton has struggled at Ferrari this season with just 41 points accrued thus far, the teenager has majorly impressed alongside George Russell in his debut F1 campaign.

Sitting sixth in the World Drivers' Championship standings, the Italian is seven points ahead of his predecessor and claimed sixth in the Miami GP, while he also came seventh in the sprint race after securing his place on pole for it.

He's finished ahead of Hamilton in five of the six F1 races so far this season, with the next battle coming at Imola later this month.