Lewis Hamilton Asked To "Gracefully Retire" As Fans Fret Of Mercedes Relationship
In a peculiar twist of fate, Mercedes seems to have mastered the art of underperforming so far in the ground-effect era. The cutting-edge zero-side pod concept has done little to aid Lewis Hamilton who came tantalizingly close to an eighth championship in the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
After the same lack of pace at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, fans of the 7-time world champion are beginning to sense the end of the relationship between him and the Brackley-based team.
Toto Wolff has admitted that if they don't pull through with upgrades to the W14, Hamilton should start looking elsewhere. And who can blame him? Lewis, after all, is after an 8th world championship. And if that isn't going to be with Mercedes, then the sportsman in him will want to move to a team that will supply him with the best tools to get the job done.
On top of this, the British driver seems to be losing his patience with his team and is looking more and more depressed each race weekend. This has left his fans speculating the worst for the Silver Arrows.
One fan said on Hamiton's recent interviews:
"Bro this doesn't sound good at all.. He literally looks so burnt out."
Another agreed that Hamilton's time at Mercedes may be coming to an end:
"Yup. With all due respect to Ham, i think it's curtains for him at Merc. He should gracefully retire and take up another role at Merc. This sentence alone screams that he's done with Merc and he's trying to motivate himself, but that ain't happening. He's not into it this yr." [sic].
A third fan wonders if Hamilton is surrendering to the poor performance the W14 is able to give him, adding that this would hit his motivation:
"From the answers i have seen, i feel Lewis is hugely disappointed and like surrended almost. I guess he was expecting other things this season...the spirits and motivation might be low. If i was near him i would give him a hug and then say to him that better times will come." [sic[
After the controversial ending to the 2021 F1 Championship, one fan believes his heart isn't in racing anymore:
"Doesn’t seem like he’s fully in it anymore, understandably but disappointing."
Mercedes expects upgrades at Baku, so we'll see if these refreshes to the concept bring any performance. Until then, we'll see what Hamilton and teammate George Russell can bring to the table.