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LONDON – According to Formula One legend Alain Prost, seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton could walk away from motorsports racing ahead of the 2022 season, according to a recent report by racingnews365.com.
Mercedes’ Hamilton narrowly lost out on what would have been a record eighth World Championship title at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which ended in controversial style after a late safety car allowed rival Max Verstappen to catch up and overtake the Briton on the final lap.
Hamilton, who spoke briefly to the media following the race ahead of the podium ceremony, has remained silent ever since and has unfollowed everybody on his Instagram account.
Along with Mercedes principal Toto Wolff, Hamilton did not attend the annual FIA prize-giving gala at the end of the season − a move that could potentially result in some kind of penalty.
Wolff himself admitted in the aftermath of Abu Dhabi that he could not guarantee that the Briton would continue in Formula One.
Former driver Alain Prost can empathise with how Hamilton might be feeling as the Formula One legend himself stepped away from the sport for a year in 1992 following a bitter end with Ferrari before returning to win his fourth and final title with Williams in 1993.
“It’s hard to put yourself in his shoes,” Prost is quoted as saying by French publication Le Journal du Dimanche.
“He surely has as many reasons to stop as to continue. It’s 50-50. He’s taken a big blow to the head, but it would be really sad if he wasn’t here this season.”
Prost remains hopeful that the prospect of battling for an eighth World Championship title − along with the challenge posed by the sport’s new regulations − will be enough to ensure Hamilton remains in the race.
“I want to stay optimistic because there’s this eighth title to go and this new technical regulation with maybe three teams at the top and four or five drivers vying for the title,” the Frenchman explained.
“That’s a challenge that Hamilton might want to take on.” – AFP, January 12, 2022
