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Lewis Hamilton's latest interview with Vanity Fair has seen him open up about what happened in Abu Dhabi last season. While talking to the magazine and detailing what happened, the Mercedes driver revealed that his biggest fears came to life last F1 season.
In the last race of the 2021 F1 season, Lewis Hamilton was leading the Abu Dhabi GP and was en route to becoming an 8-time world champion. All of this changed when Nicholas Latifi's crash a few laps before the end brought out a safety car. Race Director Michael Masi's decision to end the safety car without letting all cars unlap themselves cost Lewis Hamilton big time.
The driver was a sitting duck with Max Verstappen having fresher tires right behind him. In the end, it was an easy overtake, and the championship was taken away from Hamilton on the last lap. Since then Michael Masi has left his role as the race director and the wounds still remain as the driver opened up in an interview with Vanity Fair. He said:
"You can see it's starting to unfold in a way. My worst fears came alive. I thought 'no way' they're going to take this away from me. Absolutely not. That's not going to happen. Right? I can't describe in words how I felt. I can remember sitting there in my car, in disbelief."
Hamilton further described the anguish he had to go through as he still had to attend the podium ceremony.
"Then I realized I had to take off my seat belt, get out of there, get out of the car, find strength. I didn't have it. It was one of my toughest moments in a long, long time. I knew what had happened, I knew certain decisions had been made and why. I knew something was not right. I wondered if I wanted to continue,"
Lewis Hamilton is riding a rich vein of form with 5 consecutive podiums
Lewis Hamilton's 2022 F1 season started on the wrong foot but the driver has found his way back to the front with 5 consecutive podiums in the last 5 races. After his podium finish in the 2022 F1 Hungarian GP, he said,
"I was struggling at the beginning of the race and wasn't sure whether I'd be able to catch up so I'm happy I was able to recover from P7. I had a good start, which was crucial and, bit by bit, I felt more comfortable with the balance of the car. The cooler temperatures in qualifying and the race seemed to work well for us."
"We made a massive step from Friday and I'm very grateful for it. If the DRS had been working yesterday, we could have been in the run for the win. I want to acknowledge my team, who have continued to push and have never given up through this tough year that we've had so far."
Lewis Hamilton's form this season has sparked rumors that the Mercedes driver might just be looking to extend his stint with the team.
