Lewis Hamilton will not retire from Formula One despite his ire at how he lost the 2021 world title to Max Verstappen, the sport’s chief has claimed.
“No, I don’t think so, they are just rumours,” he told reporters when quizzed on Hamilton potentially retiring. “Has he declared that he is not going to run? Exactly, no. When you are a driver, you speak for yourself and not what others say about you.
“I trust that this is not the case. Lewis is an important part of the sport and of F1, his achievements, Verstappen is there ... I am sure we will find a very exciting F1 next season.”
Hamilton, 36, told his team radio that his last-lap defeat in Abu Dhabi had been “manipulated” immediately after last month’s race and has largely removed himself from the airwaves since.
Speculation that he was considering his future, most notably from former F1 chief Bernie Ecclestone, has since arisen but such an exit has also been described as “massively damaging” to the sport.
Lord Peter Hain, vice-chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on F1 and Labour peer, told the Express: “I think he will be back. F1 will be massively, massively damaged if he doesn't.
“F1 will have been boosted by his contribution to his sport. There's no other F1 champion who has had a greater reach into the average citizen right across the world than Lewis.”
