Berlin (dpa) – He is silent. For a long time. And that may not bode well. What’s wrong with Lewis Hamilton? There are doubts, there is speculation, there are fears that the Formula 1 superstar might leave this very one.
The way in which he missed his eighth title in the last lap in the crazy final in Abu Dhabi due to much discussed decisions by the race management, may have hurt the Brit more than some believed and believe. “Hamilton is believed to be devastated when the F1 title was wrested from him,” wrote British tabloid The Sun.
Ecclestone doesn’t believe in return
“I don’t know, but I don’t think he’s coming back. His disappointment is too big. And you can somehow understand that,” said former Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone recently in an interview with the Swiss tabloid “Blick” “. The fact that Hamilton last cleaned up his Instagram account and set the number of those he followed to 0 fueled the concerns. Although Hamilton already did this in 2019, according to “Sun”.
Hamilton has a contract with Mercedes until the end of the 2023 season. “We have achieved a lot together, but we can achieve a lot more, both on and off the track,” he said in a statement about his new contract at the beginning of July and with a view to the extensive rule changes in Formula 1 in the coming year, added: “We are at the beginning of a new vehicle era that will be both challenging and exciting at the same time, and I can hardly wait to find out what else we can achieve together. ” It is difficult to imagine that Hamilton is now leaving the team in the lurch.
With seven world championship titles he won as many as Michael Schumacher, they are together the record world champions. With its 103 Grand Prix
However, Hamilton has long since entered new statistical dimensions with victories and just as many pole positions. He has been driving in the top motorsport class since 2007, and for Mercedes since 2013. He has long been the political spokesman in the field of drivers, and Hamilton has become an opinionated superstar. In the coming year he will get a 23-year-old teammate in compatriot George Russell.
Now officially Sir Lewis
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Hamilton turns 37 on January 7th. In the coming year he would be the second oldest driver behind his former McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso (40) from Alpine. Hamilton was recently knighted by the heir to the throne, Prince Charles, at Windsor Castle, and he is now officially Sir Lewis. There were also no comments from Hamilton in the social networks. Likewise, not about the new engine for 2022, which Mercedes recently let out. Hamilton is silent.
Review: Twelve months earlier. The Formula 1 world is also wondering whether Hamilton will continue. He has not yet signed a new contract with Mercedes. The team bosses are rather relaxed. The corona pandemic makes negotiations more difficult, the time will not come until the beginning of 2021: Hamilton stays. But he only signs for a year. In the time of waiting and anxiety, Hamilton makes his fans happy with photos of him and his dog Roscoe, of Roscoe in front of the Christmas tree or with a short serenade with a guitar.
This time it is different, although both sides had already agreed in the summer to extend the contract for a further two years and the future would actually have been clarified.
Hamilton and Wolff disaffected
He and Hamilton were disaffected, admitted team boss Toto Wolff after the World Cup final. Both of them stayed away from the awards ceremony in Paris. Wolff said he was in daily contact with the British. “But I also respect that there isn’t much to talk about at the moment. Each of us deals in our own way with the feelings that concern us at this moment.” He very much hopes that Hamilton will continue to race. “And I think, as a racing driver, his heart will tell I have to keep going because he is at the peak of his ability.”
But how deep are the scars left by the Abu Dhabi final when Max Verstappen was able to start the decisive overtaking maneuver in the Red Bull and win the title for the first time due to the controversial decisions of the race director during the safety car phase just answer Hamilton himself. If he breaks his silence.
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