Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Imola, 2022

Hamilton slates ‘silly, nonsense comments’ suggesting he may leave Mercedes

2022 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix

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Lewis Hamilton emphatically rejected “comments from certain individuals” trying to “get headlines to keep themselves relevant” by suggesting he may leave his Mercedes team after their difficult start to the season.

The seven-times champion insisted he has no intention of leaving the team before his current contract expires at the end of last season.

Two-times world champion Mika Hakkinen recently suggested Hamilton could turn his back on the team he has won most of his races and world championships with.

“I wonder how Lewis behaves in the team meetings,” said Hakkinen. “I bet he’s sulking. I can imagine the sulking. There’s lots of complaining and whining.”

“He’s been at Mercedes for years and won multiple championships,” Hakkinen added. “Now that things are not going well, he’ll start thinking of switching teams.”

Without referring to anyone by name, Hamilton made it clear he has no intention of leaving the team.

“I’ve seen a couple of comments from certain individuals that I remember growing up respecting when I was younger, but ultimately their comments are silly and a bunch of nonsense all in the aim to get headlines to keep themselves relevant,” he said.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull, Imola, 2022
Gallery: 2022 Emilia-Romagna sprint race in pictures
“I’ve been with Mercedes since I was 13. We’ve had amazing times together, we’ve ridden the highs and lows together. I am 100% committed to this team. There’s nowhere else that I want to be.”

Mercedes have begun the season poorly. Hamilton lies sixth in the championship after today’s sprint race, which he finished in 13th position.

He said he is committed to turning the team’s season around. “Just because we’ve hit a rough patch, it’s just not in my DNA to back out.

“We are still world champions and we can fix this. It’s just going to take longer, it’s going to take a painful year.

“I think, ultimately, this is going to be a painful year that we’re going to have to ride out together with belief that we can rectify it at some point, maybe through the year or even the worst case scenario, at least for next year.”

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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22 comments on “Hamilton slates ‘silly, nonsense comments’ suggesting he may leave Mercedes”

  1. Barry Bens (@barryfromdownunder)
    23rd April 2022, 20:03

    I doubt any other team would want an overpriced has-been that gets beaten straight away by a youngster. Mind you: Russell does it for much less and there are a few more drivers from his class readily available. I’d get a Gasly over a Hamilton any day of the week.

    1. @barryfromdownunder wait, you actually think Ham gets payed what he gets payed because of his driving ability alone?

      1. Probably not, but that won’t matter if he doesn’t deliver.

    2. Overpriced has been? Hamilton is all class and was very close to being a champion less than half a year ago.

    3. I guess you reside over at gpfunny and are just popping over in an attempt to start an anti ham troll fest or ‘ rayd’ as it’s commonly known on the disgus sites.

      Please feel free to return down under and let the grown ups talk.

    4. COLLEEN HORSFORD
      25th April 2022, 19:23

      Lewis who was openly robbed at the end of last season. Did he magically lost his driving skills 4 races ago?

  2. Too late to leave anyway. The damage is already done.

    One bad decision, and no one else to blame but himself.

    1. @proesterchen What damage exactly? It takes Magnussen to come into a team and just drive a good car. It takes much more to get a bad car and work on turning it into good. That’s what Ham is trying to do, why is this seen as a bad thing?

      1. Every time he gets beaten by his teammate, it eats away at his reputation.

        1. So because of a fortuitous safety car instead of being 2-0 to Ham in podiums it’s 1-1, that eats away at his reputation?
          And because George was faster in the wet yesterday with a fat wing whilst Ham had the skinny one, that also eats at his reputation?
          What else? George doing the faster prep lap in qualifying?
          Obviously it didn’t take you too long to flush MS’s reputation down the toilet once he went to Mercedes either.

          1. I don’t think you’ll find many people believing that three years of getting beaten by his younger teammate added to Michael’s reputation.

          2. Adding to or eating away? You seem to conflate the two. I wonder why?

          3. @ian dearing

            I didn’t. Please ask for clarification if you still feel confused after re-reading my earlier comments.

          4. Can’t reply the comment under this: as f1 metrics blog proves with mathematical analysis, schumacher was driving exactly like he was at his prime in his mercedes years, once age related decline and lack of recent experience is accounted for. Even without doing that analysis I don’t see how you can expect a 43 to perform like a 35. If we had only seen schumacher at mercedes we’d wonder what he could’ve done at his prime in a good car, luckily we don’t have to.

        2. @proesterchen He isn’t God, noone is… nobody is expected to always be better. These are the best drivers and maybe George is the next Ham / Ver… in any case its too early too tell. It takes a lot of races to see how Russel will respond to pressure, to being under attach, in racecraft… there’s a lot more to winning than pure results. In many good races it’s these minimal gains that differentiate drivers.

  3. Obviously Mika just wants the Mercedes seat to open up so he can finally come back from his sabbatical.

    1. Ahah, now that makes sense, thought it was a strange comment from hakkinen.

  4. I thought the Mika Hakkenin quotes had been made up?

    The original article apparently appears to be quoting Mika’s column for Unibet, but if you read the actual column, those comments don’t appear anywhere in the article.

  5. It is a rubbish claim. Where would Hamilton go anyway?

  6. RocketTankski
    24th April 2022, 9:09

    his current contract expires at the end of last season. So he can walk away at any time ;-)

  7. Russel has been lucky thus far lewis not so much. Lewis is useless. Dumb and has no idea how to drive a car let alone get poles, win races or championships. I mean what is he thinking being in f1. Surely he is a below par sub driver who is a pay driver family backed with billions. With a long history of racing in his blood. Really now??? The car is not good end of story. Read the pooints out of context and Russel is a geniuse. Reality proves otherwise. But then we are living in a world of conspiracy theories and fake news and people who believe in fiction than science and fact.

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