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The year was 2020 and Lewis Hamilton was in seventh heaven. He had just won his 7th world title and with that, he became the most successful driver in the history of F1.
The Mercedes partnership had worked like a charm for him as this move had yielded 6 world championships and a ton of wins, podiums, and pole positions. It was almost as if nothing could go wrong for him at the time. The word GOAT was starting to be used by many in the media for Lewis Hamilton and it did appear that he could do no wrong in F1 at the time.
Then came 2021 and slowly but steadily, by the time the season was done, there was a paradigm shift in the sport. Max Verstappen rose to prominence, beat Lewis Hamilton in 2021 (albeit in a contentious manner), and has not looked back since.
In the last two years, Lewis Hamilton has not won a single race as Max Verstappen continues to break one record after another. Through all of this, the word 'GOAT' that had started to be used for Lewis has died down. At the same time, the aura that the Mercedes driver had at the end of the 2020 season has been completely broken.
It does however raise one question, should Lewis Hamilton have retired at the end of the 2020 F1 season? We take a look at how Lewis was perceived by the end of 2020 and how he's perceived right now. Then we will get to the crux of the debate.
How was Lewis Hamilton perceived at the end of the 2020 F1 season?
Was considered the best on the grid
By the end of 2020, Lewis Hamilton had already made his name as the benchmark in F1. He was not only a success on the track, he was a success off it as well with his cultural and social stands. This was a time when Lewis was considered the driver that would come to mind if one had to build a championship-winning team.
Broke all but one Michael Schumacher record
By the end of 2020, you name a Michael Schumacher record and Lewis Hamilton had more or less broken it. The Mercedes driver equaled Michael's record of 7 titles during the season and also overtook the record for the most wins in an F1 career. He was statistically the most successful driver in the history of the sport.
'It's just the car' debate had died down
The debate of "It's just the car" had died down significantly after he won the title in 2017 and 2018. He faced stern competition at the time from Sebastian Vettel in the first half of the season of both years only to pull away after that. To add to this, his brilliant drive in Turkey in 2020 had won the fans over big time.
It was around this time that the larger-than-life persona of his had started to take over and he was considered to be head and shoulders above everyone else.
Some of the shortcomings were starting to get papered over
Lewis Hamilton pre-2014 was considered one of the best drivers on the grid. But was he considered the best? Arguably not. That crown still belonged to either Fernando Alonso at the time or Sebastian Vettel. On his day, Lewis could take on anyone on the F1 grid, but when it came to keeping it together for the entire season the cracks showed up.
There were mistakes made during a season that cost points, there was inconsistency that plagued him at moments, and sometimes he was a bit too emotional during races, and that worked against him.
During his Mercedes stint, all of these shortcomings were seen as a thing of the past, and 'prime' Lewis Hamilton didn't have them anymore.
His record in the rain was stunning
Arguably one of the best measures of an F1 driver is how he performs in wet weather. During the Mercedes dominance, whenever it rained it was almost as if we were looking at a Lewis Hamilton masterclass.
From 2014 to 2020, we had as many as 14 races that could be classified as a 'wet race' and only two of these were not won by Lewis Hamilton. This was arguably the biggest thing that added legitimacy to his dominance.
How is Lewis Hamilton perceived today?
Was outperformed by Max Verstappen in 2021
The 2021 F1 season was the first time Lewis Hamilton was in a battle for the title with one of the elite talents on the grid in a car that was equally good and in a team that didn't implode during the season (Yes, we're talking about the Ferrari battle in 2017 and 2018). His battles against Nico Rosberg were impressive but would the German go down as one of the best drivers to have raced in F1? Probably not.
2021 was Lewis Hamilton vs Max Verstappen and while the ending of the season was contentious because of Michael Masi's dubious decision-making, looking back, the younger driver was just clearly better than the veteran. Lewis made more mistakes that season, was less consistent, and arguably much luckier when it came to things falling his way.
You consider all that and it raises questions about whether Lewis was truly the best driver in F1 or was it just the car.
The record in the wet weather has been abysmal
Secondly, arguably one of the more damning situations that Lewis has found himself in, is his drop in form in wet weather races. In 2021, he was defeated by Max in Imola, had an okayish race in Turkey, and had a brilliant call to win the race in Russia.
In 2022 however, he was lapped by the race leader in Imola, had a below-par race in Singapore, and couldn't even overtake an Alpine in Suzuka in the wet. The 2023 F1 season was not much better with hardly anything that made one stand out and take notice.
Since the 2020 F1 season, the driver has just one win in 12 races. What makes this worse is the resemblance to Hamilton's wet weather record before he had a dominant car under him. Pre 2014, Lewis had 4 wins in 20 wet races which was arguably aided by the 2007 and 2008 F1 seasons where his primary challenger was Ferrari in a similar fast car.
You take all this into consideration and you see that the wet weather results have fallen off a cliff which is just not ideal as the biggest validation for Lewis during his dominant years was his results in the wet weather.
Not considered the best anymore
Since 2021, the first time Lewis faced an equal challenge in terms of the car and the overall team setup, he's not considered the best driver on the grid anymore.
Since 2021, the tag of being the benchmark in F1 has gone to Max Verstappen. Lewis hasn't dropped off significantly and is still considered one of the top 5 drivers in F1. But the best? Those honors go to the Red Bull driver.
The shortcomings are back and getting exposed
Pre-2014, one of the biggest shortcomings when it came to Lewis was the lack of consistency levels that Fernando Alonso or Sebastian Vettel had. Lewis Hamilton was always prone to a bad weekend here and there be it due to a mistake in the race or just not being dialed in. This was papered over during the dominant years because the car was just much better than what everyone else had at their disposal.
Their shortcomings are back now. Lewis is once again prone to spurts of inconsistency. He tends to have a few weekends where he's just not there, and there are a few incidents here and there that affect the overall results.
'It's just the car' debate is back
Finally, arguably the most important impact of the last few years has been the resumption of the "it's just the car debate". The aura that Lewis Hamilton had by the end of the 2020 F1 season is now gone and with him not achieving anything close to the results he achieved in those years, the doubters are back with more and more questions.
Should he have retired?
First of all, let's make one thing clear. When we question 'Should Lewis Hamilton have retired?', we don't mean that the Mercedes driver doesn't deserve to be in F1. Far from it. He's still arguably one of the top 5 drivers in F1 right now.
Having said that, he has gone from being considered the best driver on the grid and a beast in the rain at the end of 2020 to something a bit less daunting. By the end of 2020, there was an aura around Lewis Hamilton. It was first broken in 2021 and since then it's not the same anymore.
He's not considered the best on the grid anymore and the rain in which his wins were inevitable is not his best friend either. As a driver, Lewis Hamilton can continue to race in F1 for a while.
Having said that, if he had retired at the end of the 2020 season, Lewis would have retired at the top of the sport. He's not there anymore and the last three years have truly worked against him.
Are we the right people to answer if Lewis Hamilton should have retired? No. We can however make one assertion, had he retired at the end of the 2020 F1 season, his legacy and aura might have been better than where he finds himself in 2024.
