Former F1 world champion Mika Hakkinen's comments on Lewis Hamilton's possible retirement have been rejected by the Briton.
Hamilton failed to score any points in the 2022 F1 Imola GP, having finished P13 on the grid after a dismal race. He has not at all looked comfortable in his 2022 challenger, consistently losing out to new teammate George Russell in the same car.
As a result, many in the F1 fraternity have commented on Lewis Hamilton's poor form, claiming that it's perhaps time for him to leave the team.
One such commenter, two-time world champion Mika Hakkinen, said:
"For Lewis, this is a disaster. And with George being ahead, it's even worse. I wonder how Lewis behaves in the team meetings - I bet he's sulking. I can imagine the sulking. There's a lot of complaining and whining."
"And now starts the natural thought process of drivers. 'Should I go somewhere else?' He's been at Mercedes for years and won multiple championships. Now that things are not going well, he'll start thinking of switching teams."
Hamilton immediately hit back at Hakkinen, calling his comments 'nonsensical' and 'silly'. The driver responded:
"So 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 themselves headlines to get themselves relevant."
Lewis Hamilton claims he is 100% committed to Mercedes
Despite the team's dismal start to the 2022 season, Lewis Hamilton is still completely committed to the world championship-winning team.
Hamilton has claimed there is nowhere else he'd rather be, showing his love and dedication towards Mercedes. He said:
"I am 100 per cent committed to this team and there is nowhere else I want to be. Just because we have hit a rough patch, it is not in my DNA to pack up. We are still world champions and we can fix this. It will be a painful year that we will have to ride out together."
The seven-time world champion has also claimed that 2022 is not the first time the team has been plagued with struggles, citing 2013 as a prime example.
The Silver Arrows still managed to fight their way back to the top of the sport and remained there until 2022.
Hamilton continued:
“It wasn’t the greatest of years in 2013 but we’ve had great years since then. We stick together and try to motivate everyone. This is the situation that we are faced with but everyone has put their heads down, everyone’s working as hard as they can."
However, with the 2022 season set to have more races than ever before - with 23 - there is plenty of time for Lewis Hamilton's team to once again rise to the top of the sport.
As it stands, the team is fighting to be the best of the rest and is nowhere close to Ferrari and Red Bull.
Also Check Out :-Understanding F1