Formula 1: Mercedes drop Lewis Hamilton retirement hint

A recent Twitter post by the Mercedes Formula 1 team has been perceived by some as an indication of Lewis Hamiton’s future in the sport.

Since his heartbreaking world championship defeat to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen on the final lap of the 2021 Formula 1 season after a controversial restart on Sunday, December 12, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton has remained silent.

He has not made any public comments since being interviewed by Sky Sports immediately after seeing what would have been a record-breaking eighth world championship slip away on lap 58 of the 58-lap Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina Circuit.

His most recent social media posts are still the pictures he shared after qualifying for the race the day before.

While Hamilton is under contract with Mercedes through the 2023 season after signing a two-year extension this past summer, the nature by which the 2021 world title battle ended for the seven-time world champion has led to rumors that he may step away from Formula 1 before the 2022 season.

Some sources have indicated that he will return, while others seem sure that he won’t. This is ironically nothing new for Hamilton, who somehow seems to find himself surrounded by retirement rumors at this time of year on somewhat of a regular basis.

All anybody really knows at this point is that we don’t know anything for certain, and we won’t know anything for certain until something official comes out from Mercedes and/or Hamilton.

It goes without saying that nobody knows exactly when that will be.

In the meantime, we can continue speculating based on what’s in front of us, and that now includes a tweet by Mercedes from earlier this week.

It includes a picture of Hamilton and contains the caption, “Adversity causes some to break; others to break records.”

https://twitter.com/MercedesAMGF1/status/1477594919233626113

Hamilton already owns a number of all-time Formula 1 records, most notably wins (103) and poles (103).

But he broke those records well before being faced with the adversity caused by the Decider in the Desert three and a half weeks ago.

If this fresh adversity is to result in him “breaking records” as the Silver Arrows are indicating, we all know the main one he’ll be aiming for in 2022, provided he returns: an eighth world championship.

Interestingly, they did say “records”, not just “a record”. It was plural, not singular.

One such record Hamilton would be almost a lock to break if he returns in 2022 is consecutive winning seasons.

He currently shares the record with Michael Schumacher, the driver with whom he also shares the titles record. Hamilton has won at least one race in each of his first 15 seasons in the sport going back to 2007. Schumacher won at least one race every year from 1992 to 2006.

So with all things considered, do Mercedes know something we don’t regarding Hamilton’s plans for 2022? I guess we’ll have to keep waiting to find out. The season is scheduled to get underway on Sunday, March 20, though preseason testing is scheduled to commence next month on Monday, February 21. With that in mind, expect to know a definitive answer relatively soon.