Will Lewis Hamilton retire from F1? Mercedes has serious concerns, what did Toto Wolff say about him?

Can Lewis Hamilton really retire from Formula 1? Toto Wolff, head of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 stable, hopes not. However, both remained very indignant after the controversial Abu Dhabi VC finish, did not comment to the media and Hamilton almost immediately retired.

Hamilton was on course to win his eighth world championship in Abu Dhabi, which would have seen him surpass Michael Schumacher and top the podium.

But the events of the last race of the season, and in particular a sequence of controversial decisions by Michael Massey, robbed him of his record-breaking achievement. Afterwards, he said very indignantly on the team radio that the final at the Yas Marina circuit had been rigged.

This comment by Hamilton was not broadcast on the world broadcasts but was heard on F1 TV Pro. The seven-time champion did not attend the press conference afterwards, Toto Wolff initially refusing to speak to the media altogether.

Both then failed to turn up for the FIA gala where Max Verstappen received the trophy for the drivers’ championship winner. Hamilton, it should be noted, won the FIA’s Personality of the Year award.

Mercedes even withdrew their appeal afterwards. The team boss subsequently explained that both he and Lewis will have to overcome the pain, fear and injustice they are currently feeling.

“Lewis and I are very disappointed at the moment. We are not disappointed by Formula 1 as such because we love this sport with every bone in our body and because stopwatches never lie. But if we violate the basic principle of sporting fairness and authenticity of the sport, then suddenly the stopwatch becomes irrelevant because we are exposed to random decision-making,” he said in an interview with Motorsport.

“You start to wonder whether all the work, the blood, sweat and tears, can really be demonstrated on the track. Because as we can see, the outcome can be decided completely at random,” he added.

“We will never overcome the pain and suffering that was inflicted on us on Sunday. I hope very much that Lewis will continue his career because he is the best driver ever,” Wolff concluded.

According to Wolff, there is no doubt who should have been world champion. Although he congratulated Max Verstappen on his title via text message and said that he certainly deserved the title for his performance, he said his perspective would not change.

Namely, that there was a serious breach of the rules, or rather an arbitrary interpretation of the rules by Massi, and he still obviously feels a huge injustice. So it is logical that the world media are also speculating about whether Hamilton will indeed end his rich career.

In fact, according to the team’s and Toto Wolff’s statements so far, it looks as if Hamilton in seclusion is really considering whether it makes sense to continue his career.

Sources: Motorsport, Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1