Formula 1: Lewis Hamilton began 2021 without a ride — and a team

When the year 2021 began, 19 drivers had been signed to the 20-driver grid for the 2021 Formula 1 season. Lewis Hamilton wasn’t one of them.

Then a four-time Formula 1 world champion, Lewis Hamilton signed a two-year contract extension to remain with Mercedes through the 2020 season back in July 2018.

Before the 2020 season was initially slated to get underway (prior to the start being delayed from March to July due to COVID-19-related restrictions), both sides indicated that they wanted to get a deal done for 2021.

They echoed the same sentiment throughout the 2020 season, and the lack of a deal was pinned solely on bad timing.

But rumors about Hamilton possibly retiring — and potential friction within the Silver Arrows — really begun to heat up when teammate Valtteri Bottas signed a new deal in August 2020 while Hamilton still had not.

Eventually, the 2020 season concluded in mid-December, and Hamilton, despite winning yet another title, still didn’t have a deal to compete in 2021. With that being said, there were other seats still open on the grid at the time. But that changed within a week of the season ending.

The only seat still open to conclude the year 2020 was the seat which had been driven to six of the last seven and four straight world championships.

On Friday, January 1, 2021, the deal that Hamilton had signed in 2018 had officially expired.

He was technically no longer a member of Mercedes.

There were all kinds of reports regarding contract negotiations, some indicating that Daimler had rejected Hamilton’s demands and others indicating that Hamilton himself had rejected an offer from the team. Some indicated both.

And, of course, all of this talk came amid the inevitable George Russell rumors. Rumors of the Mercedes junior driver taking Hamilton’s seat loomed after he made an impressive appearance as his replacement for a race after Hamilton tested positive for COVID-19.

It was revealed that Hamilton and Mercedes had until the end of February to reach a deal.

All of January passed, and no deal was announced.

But finally, the seven-time champ ended up signing with the team for the 2021 season toward the beginning of February — the day after Tom Brady became a seven-time Super Bowl champ, in fact. And this past summer, he signed another two-year extension to remain with the team through 2023.

As for the immediate future, the driver who was effectively without a ride and a team when the calendar turned from 2020 to 2021 now has a chance to win what would be a record-breaking eighth world championship and a record-tying fifth consecutive world championship this Sunday in the 2021 season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina Circuit.

Hamilton is set to enter the 22nd and final race on the 2021 schedule tied atop the driver standings with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen with 369.5 points. Verstappen does own the tiebreaker due to having more wins (9-8).

The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is set to be broadcast live from Yas Marina Circuit beginning at 7:55 a.m. ET this Sunday, December 12. So don’t miss out on this great opportunity to start your free trial of FuboTV!