“I never said I was going to stop”– Lewis Hamilton speaks on his absolute silence which emitted his retirement rumours after the 2021 title snub

Tanish Chachra | 18/02/2022
"I never said I was going to stop"– Lewis Hamilton speaks on his absolute silence which emitted his retirement rumours after the 2021 title snub

Lewis Hamilton claims that his break from everything around F1 was highly needed after the heartbreaking Abu Dhabi GP title snub.

The 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix followed an absolute radio silence by Lewis Hamilton. The seven-time world champion avoided any social media presence for over a month.

When asked about his break from F1 from the last race of the 2021 season till the first week of February, which caused several speculations of his retirement, Hamilton replies that it was a break he needed after everything happened.

“I never said I was going to stop, I love doing what I do. But it was obviously a difficult time for me and it was a time when I really needed to take a step back, focus on being present. So I had my family around me, creating great moments,” said Hamilton during the Mercedes car reveal.

Along with Toto Wolff and George Russell, Hamilton talked about several things. A few Mercedes drivers programme’s prospects were also invited to ask advice from the three exceptional professionals.

Also read: Jean Alesi is impressed with new Ferrari car after having a close look

Did Lewis Hamilton get justice?

On Thursday, Michael Masi was removed as the F1 race director by the FIA. He was replaced by Niels Wittich and Eduardo Freitas, who will alternate the roles.

Apart from that, FIA made two significant changes. The first one is that unlapping the cars during the safety car will be reassessed. This method was allegedly twisted in Abu Dhabi and was the main reason behind the controversy.

“Unlapping procedures behind safety car will be reassessed by the F1 Sporting Advisory Committee and presented to the next F1 Commission prior to the start of the season,” read the FIA statement.

The other change is the removal of direct communication between the race director and the teams. Last year, the team’s race director was observed to be put under immense pressure due to the direct radio channel.

“Direct radio communications during the race will be removed to protect the race director from any pressure and allow him to take decisions peacefully. It will still be possible to ask questions to the race director. According to a non-intrusive process,” said the FIA.

All the aspects which determined the championship have been removed. The alteration of things is a sign of FIA admitting that maybe Hamilton was wronged in 2021. But that doesn’t change the outcome of the last season.

Also read: Sebastian Vettel denies possibility of replacing Lewis Hamilton amidst rumours of Mercedes interest

Post Edited By: Tanish Chachra
Lewis Hamilton Mercedes

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

Don’t miss these