Lewis Hamilton has stressed he never planned to walk away from Formula 1 but needed to “take a step back” over the winter break after a “difficult” end to 2021.
Following his world title defeat to Max Verstappen on the final lap of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after the controversial safety car restart, Hamilton disappeared from the spotlight.
The seven-time world champion made no public comments about the events in Abu Dhabi, with Mercedes boss Toto Wolff revealing he’d been left “disillusioned” by what had happened.
Wolff’s comments caused a stir and led to widespread speculation surrounding Hamilton’s future, putting pressure on the FIA to ensure changes to its procedures would be made to prevent a repeat of the controversy.
But speaking for the first time since last year’s season finale at the launch of the new Mercedes W13 on Friday, Hamilton said after much contemplation during his break he was now relishing the season ahead.
“I never, ever said that I was going to stop,” said Hamilton. “I love doing what I do, and it is such a privilege working with this large group of people.
“You really feel like you’re part of a team and part of a family, working towards that common goal. There’s no feeling quite like it.
“But yeah…it was obviously a difficult time for me, and it was a time where I really needed to take a step back and focus on being present. I had my family all around me, and creating great moments.
“And I eventually got to a point where I decided I was going to be attacking coming into another season, and working with Toto and George [Russell].
“It’s exciting seeing George come in and bringing his energy. I can already feel that throughout the team. I think it’s going to be an exciting season.”
Hamilton’s first public appearance since Abu Dhabi comes a day after the FIA announced a new structure in response to the controversy.
President Mohammed Ben Sulayem revealed the creation of a virtual race control room to support the F1 racing director and tweaks to the safety car rules, as well as confirming Michael Masi’s departure from his role as race director.
Mercedes F1 chief Wolff welcomed the FIA’s changes, believing it had taken the “right steps” towards ensuring similar incidents won’t reoccur in the future,
“I think it’s very encouraging to see that action has been taken,” said Wolff.
“There is a much more robust structure now and support structure for the racing director. The FIA has stated that there will be a virtual race control room, state of the art technology, and now we shall be going, the new guys are going to be in place for the Barcelona test. I think the right steps.”
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