F1: Did Lewis Hamilton label Mercedes' in-season progress superficial?

Lewis Hamilton seemed to label Mercedes' in-season progress superficial after failing to finish the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The seven-time world champion suffered his first mechanical retirement of the campaign while fighting Carlos Sainz for fourth place in the closing stages of the Formula 1 season finale.

The Silver Arrows started the season on the back foot after taking the wrong route in terms of design philosophy. The Mercedes car suffered multiple issues, and was unable to keep up with Red Bull Racing and Ferrari at the front.

The eight-time Constructors' champions were relegated to fighting for third place just ahead of the midfield battle. Despite their troubles, Mercedes continued to push forward trying to understand their unique "no sidepod" car design, and began to make improvements as the season progressed.

Initially, it looked like Mercedes will end the season winless, but the high altitude of Sao Paulo suited the Silver Arrows cars. In the penultimate race, George Russell delivered the team's first win with Hamilton finishing a close second to announce their revival.

However, it was short lived, as Mercedes' flaws were again exposed at the season finale in Abu Dhabi. Red Bull again remained out of reach, while Ferrari showed that they still have a better car compared to Mercedes when they put together a clean weekend.

While Hamilton admitted that he was proud of the team for pushing hard to close the gap, he seemed to hint that it was all superficial. The Briton feels that despite all the progress Mercedes were stuck with a car that was fundamentally flawed from race one to race 22.

"Ultimately, I think we started with a car that we didn't want and we finished with a car that we didn't want but we were basically stuck with it. We kept trundling away, kept working away at improving it, but I think the fundamentals have still been there until the end, as you saw this weekend," Hamilton said.

"It's been more of a team building exercise this year and I'm very, very proud of everybody... Whilst we're not celebrating a World Championship, we'll be celebrating them still for their hard work and efforts."