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Recently, many observers have insinuated that Lewis Hamilton should retire or that he should have stopped at the end of last season when he lost the title to Max Verstappen. The comments come after Hamilton was outperformed by his teammate George Russell and failed to score a point at the Imola Grand Prix last week.
The seven-time world champion, however, took to social media to reassure his fans that he is "working on his masterpiece" and will retire when he believes it is the right time to stop.
The social media post read:
“Working on my masterpiece, I’ll be the one to decide when it’s finished.”
Lewis Hamilton has been chasing a record eighth world championship title since the beginning of the 2021 season. The chances of achieving it this season, however, look particularly slim given the rough start he has had this year.
Speaking about his chances at the title this year, the Mercedes driver said:
“I’m out of it [fight for the world championship title], for sure. There’s no question about that, but I’ll still keep working as hard as I can to try and somehow pull it back together somehow. There is nowhere else I want to be. Just because we have hit a rough patch, it is not in my DNA to back out. We can fix this. It is going to be a painful year that we are going to have to ride out together.”
Lewis Hamilton currently stands seventh in the drivers' standings with a total of 28 points, while George Russell is up in fourth.
Former F1 driver claims he "enjoyed" watching Lewis Hamilton getting lapped at the Imola GP
Former F1 driver Jos Verstappen revealed that he enjoyed watching his son Max Verstappen lapping Lewis Hamilton last weekend at the Imola Grand Prix. The Dutchman, who is the reigning world champion, dominated the race and went on to have one of the most successful weekends of his F1 career while it was a day to forget for Hamilton.
As reported by Sky Sports, the 50-year-old said:
“Red Bull clearly made a step in the right direction. Of course, we knew the car would get an upgrade in Italy, but with the weather conditions it was hard to make a comparison. But we can definitely conclude that we’ve become stronger. Honestly, I did enjoy seeing Max [Verstappen] lap [Lewis] Hamilton, after everything that happened last year. Hamilton really had a tough time, whereas his teammate George Russell seemed to be more balanced. It’s not often you have the opportunity to lap a Mercedes.”
After two DNFs within the first three races of the season, Max Verstappen now stands second in the drivers' standings with a 27-point gap to leader Charles Leclerc.
