Lewis Hamilton in new team radio meltdown as he tells Mercedes to RETIRE his car in disastrous end to his £100m contract before leaving for Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton’s unhappy end to life at Mercedes continued at the Qatar Grand Prix after the seven-time world champion rowed with his team and demanded to end the race early. 

The soon-to-be Ferrari driver was competing in his penultimate race weekend for the German manufacturer, with whom he has won six of his record-equaling seven crowns. But Hamilton’s farewell has been anything but serene, with recent incidents threatening to sour his send-off. 

On Sunday, the Brit reacted poorly after suffering a puncture and a penalty, for speeding in the pit lane, at the Losail Circuit and he attempted to retire the car early – a request that was swiftly rejected by his team. 

His race engineer Peter Bonnington said on the team radio: ‘We have got a drive-through penalty in the pit lane. It looks like you forgot to press the button on that first time behind the Safety Car.’

Hamilton said: ‘Retire the car, mate. Park the car, mate.’ Bonnington replied: ‘Negative.’

The incident comes just a few weeks after the 39-year-old threatened to quit the rest of the season after a horror Brazilian Grand Prix weekend.

The seven-time world champion suffered a puncture and a penalty and demanded to retire the car early

‘That was a disaster of a weekend, guys. The worst the car has ever been. Thank you for contributing to try and great job to all the guys at the pit-stop.

‘If this is the last time I get to perform it was a shame it wasn’t great but (I am) grateful for you.’

In Doha, world champion Max Verstappen claimed another victory after overtaking pole sitter George Russell and crossing the line ahead of Charles Leclerc, while Oscar Piastri finished in third. Hamilton finished outside the points in 12th place.  

The weekend was also notable for the incredible war of words between the Dutchman and Hamilton’s team-mate, with the former sensationally claiming to have lost all respect for Russell and accusing him of being two-faced. 

‘He always acts very nice here in front of the cameras,’ said Verstappen, who was adjudged to have impeded Russell in qualifying. ‘But when you’re in there it’s a completely different person. I can’t stand that.

‘I’ve been in that meeting room many times with people that I’ve raced. And I’ve never seen anyone trying to screw someone over that hard. I lost all respect.

‘It was ridiculous how he tried to force a penalty, and I was heavily p*****.’

According to Marca, Verstappen also said to Dutch media: ‘He’d better go f*** himself, I don’t want to have anything to do with him’.

An eventful Formula One season concludes in Abu Dhabi this weekend.