Lewis Hamilton maintains that retirement never crossed his mind following his controversial championship defeat to Max Verstappen in 2021.
The Briton looked set to cruise to his record eighth world championship while comfortably leading Verstappen late on in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix before a crash for Williams’ Nicholas Latifi turned the race on its head.
After the loss, he told 2009 world champion Jenson Button “we’ll see about next year” in a post-race interview, before taking an extended break from social media.
It led many to believe that he may call it quits but he returned early this month and affirmed during the presentation of the W13 last week that he did not consider walking away from the pinnacle of motorsport.
“I never ever said I was going to stop,” he stated.
“It was obviously a difficult time for me and it was a time where I really needed to take a step back, focus on being present so I had my family all around me and creating great moments,” he said.
