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Lewis Hamilton has admitted that his heartbreak in Abu Dhabi has convinced him to delay his retirement from Formula 1 until he can win another world title.
One of the only major F1 records that Hamilton doesn’t quite hold is the number of world championships – currently tied with Michael Schumacher for seven.
His eighth title chances of the season are over as Mercedes have struggled to understand their W13 design and overcome the porpoise issues that affected them in the first race of the season.
Hamilton’s best result in 2022 so far has been two second-place finishes in France and Hungary, and his current minimum at the world championship is sixth.
However, the British driver revealed that the lure of the challenge to get back on the road to victory and to fight for the title has convinced him to move on rather than withdraw from the Grand Prix.
Hamilton on heartbreak in Abu Dhabi
Hamilton would take a record-breaking eighth title, but a safety car decision by then race director Michael Massey in the final saw Max Verstappen take the title away after a one-lap shootout.
This, coupled with the difficulty of the W13, further extends Hamilton’s shelf life.
“I think if we just won last year, then this year we’ll win and life will be in a different place and you’ll be on a different path,” he explained Racing website.
“I like that it went through a tougher phase and we had to get through that tough process – I would say it encouraged me to stay longer.
“I feel healthy – and find ways to make my body feel better.
“Mental challenges are a constant thing and always will be, because that’s what it is for us athletes, because we’re on the edge.
“I like to think I still deserve a place here and there’s still a lot of work to do.
The challenge of getting back on the road to victory
Now 37 and 38 by the start of next season, Hamilton is closer to the end of his career than he started, and despite winning 103 grands prix, he is eager to increase that number and raise the benchmark.
“Honestly, if every day is easy and you just get through it, it’s not going to be a challenge,” he explained.
“I love working with everyone and challenging people and their challenges to me. [We] Acknowledging that we didn’t do well this year doesn’t mean we can’t do well in the future. We have done it in the past.
“Does it hurt? I’m not going to say it hurts. We all know what that would be. We would love to be in that fight and I wish all the cars were closer and we all had a better fight and were closer to the front.
“I wish there were only one tenth between us, you know? But that’s not how we sport.
“So I’m not worried – it’s out of my control right now. So I’m just focusing on what I can do, which is trying to do better with what we have and directing it.
“When I damage a car, I take money out of the budget, and I’m like, ‘Oh my God! Don’t do that!
“I hope that when we come back next February, the car will touch the ground and it will do what we want it to do.”
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