Seven-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes has said it took him a “long time to heal” from the impact of the controversial end to the 2021 season when he missed out on a record eighth title in the last race, and that he has had numerous mental health challenges for 30 months without a win, before triumphing at Silverstone. Hamilton won the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on Sunday, his first victory since the penultimate race of 2021 in Saudi Arabia. He described yesterday’s triumph as the most emotional in his Formula 1 career.
After crossing the finish line, Hamilton broke down in tears as he ended his 56-race winless streak, the longest of his career. Previously, the longest winless streak was ten races.
He lost the title in a battle with Max Verstappen at the final race of the 2021 season in Abu Dhabi , after then race director Michael Massi misapplied the safety car rules, allowing the Red Bull driver to pass Hamilton in the final round and won the first title, and prevented the Briton from winning a record eighth.
The International Automobile Federation (FIA) announced after the investigation that it was “human error”.
In a statement broadcast today for “Sky”, Hamilton said that after everything he thought about whether he wanted to continue at all, after Mercedes’ failures since the introduction of new rules.
- When I returned in 2022, I thought I was over it. I know I’m not and it took me a long time to heal that feeling. And this is natural for anyone who has such an experience. And I just continued to try to work on myself and find inner peace day by day – said 39-year-old Hamilton .
From 2022, Mercedes had a lot of problems with the car and it was not competitive with Red Bull. That continued this season, but Mercedes driver George Russell won the previous race in Austria, and Hamilton won in Great Britain on Sunday.
The seven-time world champion holds the record with 104 victories in Formula 1. He said that he had many challenges on the psychological level after Abu Dhabi 2021.
- In addition to this type of adversity that I went through both as a team and personally, what I experienced, and the challenges, the constant challenge that we had to get out of bed every day and do our best. So many times you think that your best effort is simply not enough. And the disappointment that you can sometimes feel, you know, we live in a time when mental health is a serious issue. And I’m not going to lie, I experienced that. There were definitely moments when you think – that’s it, it will never happen again. So, this feeling when you cross the finish line at the end, I don’t think I’ve ever cried from a victory, honestly. This just came out of me and it’s a really, really great feeling. I am very grateful to him – added one of the best drivers in the history of Formula 1.
