"I really wanted to deliver for him" - Lewis Hamilton on winning Monaco Grand Prix after passing of Niki Lauda

Lewis Hamilton took time to reflect on some of the biggest moments in his F1 career with the Mercedes AMG F1 team. In doing so, Lewis Hamilton revealed that he was under pressure to win the 2019 Monaco Grand Prix.

In a video for Petronas Motorsports, Lewis Hamilton took a drive down memory lane to revisit past glories, among which was his superlative drive in Monaco in 2019.

When shown an image of him celebrating in Monaco, Lewis Hamilton said:

"This is a crazy one, actually. Obviously, we'd just lost Niki (Lauda) and Niki had been so instrumental in bringing me to the team. So, the pressure was on. I really wanted to deliver for him. There's no better way of honoring someone close to you, particularly an iconic driver by winning in his name."

Lewis Hamilton still remembers the race as if it were yesterday, saying:

"It was a horrible race and in every single lap and in every single corner, I knew that I could lose it at any point. But we won. I had to go home and sleep. I was so destroyed. But of course, it was a happy moment."

Lewis Hamilton came into the pits on lap 11 of the Monaco Grand Prix in 2019, after Charles Leclerc's shredded tire brought the Safety Car out. He emerged from the pitlane with medium tires on his Mercedes while rivals Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel opted for the hard tires.

The medium tire was expected to last a total of 50 laps before failing, as per Pirelli's estimations. Lewis Hamilton was given the task of running the same tires for 66 laps by his team in what they later called a miscalculation on their part.

That is where tire science was taken over by Lewis Hamilton's mastery. The Briton, all the while complaining about the condition of his tires and lack of pace, kept Max Verstappen at bay for the rest of the race. But not without difficulty.

In the end, Lewis Hamilton emerged victorious in the Principality with a drive even Niki Lauda would have been proud of.

Lewis Hamilton's F1 retirement speculation continues

Lewis Hamilton's silence ever since the end of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on December 12 has led fans to speculate that the Briton could be weighing up retirement from F1.

Lewis Hamilton has made no social media posts since the race. This has happened despite being conferred a knighthood and also visiting Mercedes team headquarters to participate in the contractors’ championship celebrations.

Lewis Hamilton only did a short post-race interview after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and did not attend the full post-race press conference. He also did not attend the FIA Gala in Paris, alongside Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff.

Mercedes reportedly have plans to bring Valtteri Bottas back to the team should the 7-time world champion call time on his F1 career.