Lewis Hamilton sent a special gift to all 3,000 Mercedes employees after he left the team to join Ferrari following a hugely successful 12-year stint. Hamilton won six of his seven world titles during his time with Mercedes and the Brit commissioned artwork which he gifted to his former colleagues after his departure. Acclaimed motorsport artist Paul Oz was commissioned for one of the works. In a now-deleted post on Instagram, Oz revealed that Hamilton asked him to paint a picture of the 40-year-old after his win at the Monaco Grand Prix back in 2019. Hamilton memorably dedicated that victory to Niki Lauda, who had passed away earlier that year.
Lauda served as Mercedes' non-executive chairman from 2012 until his death and played a role in the team's negotiations to sign Hamilton from McLaren in 2013. The original painting has been hung at Mercedes' headquarters in Brackley, while each staff member received a print. "Now that it's public knowledge and all 3000 Mercedes GP employees have received their prints of this, I can talk about it," Oz said. "Commissioned by Lewis himself as a departing present for everybody at Mercedes… class act!.
"My only remit was that I should focus on the car rather than Lewis, and so I chose to paint an image from Monaco 2019, just a few days after Niki Lauda passed and the team ran a red halo to remember Niki. Lewis stuck it on pole then dominated the race.". Artist Joel Clark also shared a piece of artwork Hamilton commissioned him to produce titled 'An Ode to Senna' which depicts the Brit waving the Brazilian flag after winning the 2021 Sao Paolo Grand Prix.
"An Ode to Senna. Hand-cut vinyl applied to A1 Perspex panel. This piece was commissioned by @LewisHamilton as part of his leaving gifts to his teammates at @MercedesAMGF1," Clark shared on social media. He also included a video of him showing off the piece and said: "It is with huge honour and stratospheric disbelief that I can reveal to you my Lewis Hamilton commission. It's just off the scale!. "What we have here is titled 'An Ode to Senna'. It of course captures Lewis on his victory lap at the 2021 Brazilian Grand Prix. This along with, I think, five or six other artworks are basically Lewis' leaving gift to Mercedes. The significance and honour just leaves me speechless.".
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