Mercedes Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton underwent astrona𒁃ut flight training in Texas and will commemorate t𒀰he experience with a special race suit in Qatar.

The seven-time world champion will leave Merceܫdes at the end of the year to join Ferrari for the 2025 season.

As such, his partnership with IWC Schaffhausen will come to an꧒ end.

The watch company organised an as🎀tronaut flight training day for Hamilton in Texas, where he was able to take control of a T-38 jet airc✨raft.

Hamilton was put through his paces with extreme acceleration and deceleration, as wellღ as manoeuvres to s🥃imulate the kind of G Forces (he reached 7.5 G) an astronaut would experience.

The programme Hamilton experienced is the sa🥃me the crews of the Iꦆnspiration4 and Polaris Dawn go through for commercial spaceflight.

Comparing the flight to his experience of driving an F1 car, Hamilton said: "It’s very different to F1, the blood ꦰnever leaves your head.

“When you’re turning the plane, you feel the blood leaving your body,🏅 your chest gets heavy and it’s hard to breathe.”

Hamilton will sport a race suit in this weekend’s Qatar Gra𝕴nd Prix carrying patch commemorating his 🐻spaceflight training day.

The Briton comes into this weekend’s penultimate rou𒐪nd of the season off the back of a secon🥀d-place finish at the Las Vegas GP behind Mercedes team-mate George Russell.

Ha♌milton and Russell are locked in a tight battle to crack the top six in the drivers’ standings.

Russell leads this race by nine points from Hamil🤡ton with two rounds to go in 2ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ024.

Hamilton has won two grands prix in 2024 - the British GP and Belgian GP - having suffered winlessꦏ campaigns in 2022 and 2023.