Bidding farewell to Mercedes after 12 years and six World titles, Lewis Hamilton has been cleared to join the podium three’s post-race celebrations in Abu Dhabi.

Sunday’s season finale at the Yas Marina circuit will be the last time Hamilton lines up on a Formula 1 grid with the Silver Arrows, the Briton off to Ferrari next season.

Lewis Hamilton’s post-race

Given the monumental occasion, the FIA have given the Briton the go-ahead to join the first three finishers in the post-race celebrations.

“After taking the chequered flag the top three drivers and driver of car 44 (if outside of top three) should stay on track, drop to the back of the field and then proceed directly to the grid where there will be the opportunity for post-championship celebrations should they wish to do so,” read the statement.

“Following these celebrations, they should proceed towards the start light gantry where they will find the 1, 2, 3 boards.”

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Hamilton still holds hope of joining them on merit despite lining up 16th on the grid.

The Mercedes driver was knocked out of qualifying in Q1 on Saturday night when a stray bollard, upended by Kevin Magnussen, was caught under his car in the final minute of the session.

That, according to PlanetF1.com’s Pablo Hidalgo, caused him to lose more than four-tenths of a second in the final sector.

Hamilton believes Mercedes have the race pace needed to fight back but only time will tell if it’s enough to put him on the podium in his final race with the Brackley squad.

“The pace was decent,” he told the media including PlanetF1.com. “It’s not going to be easy to overtake.

“I’ve got to work on strategy now and instead of fighting for a podium let’s see how far I can get, if I can get into the top 10, that would be amazing.

“I mean, I will try… as I said, the car’s been feeling decent and to go from the P1, P2 where I was always relatively in the top five to the being 18th definitely changes the look into the weekend, but I I’m still trying to be really present.

“I’m still really grateful the team have been… the car’s been completely different this weekend and it’s been so, so much nicer to drive and so my hopes are high but it is what it is, I’ll try and come back from there.”

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