Lewis Hamilton has fuelled rumours that he might be about to sensationally quit motorsports with an Instagram post that hits at his mental turmoil.

After his agonising loss of the driver's championship last season, Hamilton's 2022 title challenge started with a whimper after failing to make qualifying for the first time since 2009.

Insiders say the star is disillusioned with the sport, with Hamilton believing that some of the decisions made are unfair. He’s also allegedly deeply unhappy about some of the locations that F1 will be racing in.

Poor Start in Saudi

After the disastrous end to last season, which culminated in Hamilton losing the title to rival Verstappen, this year has started poorly for the 37-year-old driver.

Hamilton Admits Mental Toll As Season Underway

Lewis Hamilton Formula One - Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, 2022 Saudi Arabian GP. Lewis Hamilton

He was eliminated from the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix in Q1 of qualifying, unable to match the other drivers for pace.

The last time Hamilton was knocked out of Q1 qualifying based on sheer speed alone was 2009, so it’s a notably poor performance and out of character for the driver.

It meant that he started on the grid in 16th spot and only managed to drag himself up to 10th during the race. The safety car's appearance didn't help Hamilton as he had clawed his way up to 6th, but the wait for new tyres meant he fell back down through the pack again.

Hamilton has been actively campaigning for human rights, and only last week spoke out about a 14-year-old boy who has been sentenced to death in Saudi. It was clear that Hamilton wasn’t happy about racing in the country, and his feelings have been compounded by a miserable performance.

Hinting at Retirement?

The 2021 F1 season was a massive hit with fans, with the rivalry between Hamilton and Verstappen upping the excitement. It's been popular with betting firms, too, as they have seen the motorsport betting markets go wild - meaning they would be very unhappy to see Lewis Hamilton retiring.

But could the successful driver be genuinely looking to leave?

His latest Instagram post hints at being unhappy and admits to suffering from his mental health on some days, saying, "It's been such a tough year already with everything that has happened around us. Hard some days to stay positive. I have struggled mentally and emotionally for a long time. To keep going is a constant effort, but we have to keep fighting. We have so much to do and to achieve. I'm writing to tell you it's ok to feel the way you do."


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88 F1 Fan comments on “Hamilton Admits Mental Toll As Season Underway

  1. Blofly

    Time to call it a day, he has nothing to prove, more money than he will ever need and F1 is now just a media circus which has to make the most money possible any way it can manipulate it.
    Same goes for Max, Seb, Fernando, they should all get out and get a life while they are still relatively young.

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    • marcia

      Why would any sports person quit when they still have talent, as Hamilton does? Can you imagine a tennis player, golfer, boxer etc stopping because they think they’ve won too many titles to give others a chance? They do that, then it is no longer competition!
      Hamilton naturally wants to beat Schumacher, so that he can truly be the GOAT and i hope he does, but it is unlikely he will now. It’s great the guy is still trying and to be honest, he doesn’t winge any more than Verstappen, who is an arrogant misery!

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  2. Susan

    Ham definitely needs to go. His psyche is too fragile in today's racing world. I agree with Alsonso and Vettel, maybe time to hang up the racing gloves. They have had great careers. Verstappen, no, he is just now hitting his stride.

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  3. Shroppyfly

    LaLa said I'm back and ready to win back my crown, just a few weeks ago, now it's all, oh I'm suffering with this and that,time to go now or by seasons end his reputation will be Toast... And no Oscar invites from his new best buddy either now

    Jaxi for Mr Hamilton or whatever he's calling himself these days..!

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      • CanadianEh

        Right! If he can afford sky-diving in Dubai, 15 exotic cars, apartments in San Fransico, Monte Carlo, Paris and Rome, he can afford gender-affirming surgery. I gotta had it to trans hemales, I mean they cut off their wedding-tackle and throw it away - "Nope, don't need this anymore". I mean, THAT is commitment.

        Then we'll have to call him "Lucy", sorry, "Dame Lucy".

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        • shroppyfly

          I will quietly remind people that I have been calling him Lulu/Lucy for a long while now

          Heh Canadian , saw you mentioned Calgary in another post, ahhhh Calgary, three hours from there is a little place called Medicine Hat as you'll know, aka BATUS, for the uninitiated its where us Brits go to practice firing our tanks/anti tank weapons , so that when we ship them off to Ukraine we know they are in 1st class order..smh

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          • CanadianEh

            Oh yes! CFB Sheffield. My son is in the CF and he knows the place well. I'm grateful for the Blokes competence, someone has to be able to give good news to the bad guys.

            Here in the Democratic Peoples Republic of Canada, our PM (AKA "Trudy"), is busily disassembling what's left of our military. Grrr.

  4. Blofly

    When Lewis goes who will you jealous racist trolls turn on next?Max?
    Your miserable inadequate lives will be even more empty and worthless, horay!

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    • marcia

      I agree with you - most people on here seem to be d*** heads!
      Just because Hamilton is wealthy, doesn’t mean he is a bad person. He is one of the UKs top tax payers (and also pays tax in other countries), he does a lot for charity, is great for equality (along with Vettel) and just because he owns things i could never dream of doesn’t make him a bad guy - look at what footballers earn!
      ALL drivers whinge (specially Verstappen) when they have a bad day - turn the volume down if you poor people can’t cope!
      I wonder if people will be slagging Verstappen off when he becomes a billionaire, which he is in line to be by the time he reaches 30, thanks to his same pay as Hamilton and his tourist business where he and his dad arrange for hundreds of people to be shipped into each race at a whopping price!

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    • Susan

      That is a bit of an overstatement, don’t you think? If someone doesn’t like how someone acts, that’s now racist? The words racist and jealousy seems to be over thought and over used these days. Whatever happened to just having an opinion, or is that now taboo in our current WOKE world?

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    • Susan

      I noticed when all else fails, racism and jealously becomes the argument. How about just accepting your champion is showing true colors. Narcissistic, whining and self serving. Not great character traits, no matter eco-social status or ethnicity. I can’t speak for any one else, but I am not racist nor jealous of anyone. I don’t appreciate that you assume I am. You don’t even know me.

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      • Shroppyfly

        So true Susan about jealousy and racism 2 names on here spring to mind, I wont embarress them, but they know who they are...!

        Reply
  5. CanadianEh

    Sir Lulu is a quinsentential example of what left-wing SJW/BLM/socialist/millennial/cis-gender emoter's look like.

    It's a form of narcissistic behaviour that changes according to the direction of the 'internal' wind - soo subjective, soo sensitive, soo entitled, quickly offended, slow to forgive, laden with resentments and worldly angst.

    The social moral and ethical axioms that were common in the last century, have been replaced by a self-centered inward looking view with the aim of being soo tolerant, soo inclusive, that ironically have led to a fractured society devoid of tolerance and utterly exclusive. Think like us or we will destroy you.

    And sadly, Lewis is an Ambassador for that lifestyle.

    Sucks to be him.

    Sucks to be Toto.

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  6. marcia

    Why would any sports person quit when they still have talent, as Hamilton does? Can you imagine a tennis player, golfer, boxer etc stopping because they think they’ve won too many titles to give others a chance? They do that, then it is no longer competition!
    Hamilton naturally wants to beat Schumacher, so that he can truly be the GOAT and i hope he does, but it is unlikely he will now. It’s great the guy is still trying and to be honest, he doesn’t winge any more than Verstappen, who is an arrogant misery!

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    • shroppyfly

      you can still have"talent" as every sportsperson still has when they decide to retire, its that edge for speed and perception they lose , as in MSC comeback, yes course he still had talent but hed lost that certain something, so for your idiot comments about posters, the 1st line of this post says a lot for your knowledge of how f1 drivers or motorsport people in general are.

      Easy example read about Piquet after his accident.

      All naturally imo ofcourse

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      • Blofly

        What many posters can’t cope with is that in the real manipulated world Marmite is the current world champ not the young imposter who was actually thrashed by the mystro.
        I’m with you Marcia. Stroppy’s just a show off.

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        • marcia

          ha ha 👍🏻I’ve loved F1 for over 40 years and there have been some really horrible and angry people out there, but many can’t cope with Hamiltons brilliance and already people say Verstappen is better after only 1 dodgey title. Jealousy springs to mind!

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          • Blofly

            In his day Mansell had endless derogatory remarks thrown at him by self appointed experts. I suspect many of them now say what a great bloke he was/is. Indeed his fight with Senna at Monaco is now ledgendary.

            Would Senna have been so good without his cheating and daddy being able to buy him the world champions car and at the same time eliminate his main competition?

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  7. shroppyfly

    Well there you go , a differing of opinions, or facts as most people like to call them , while constantly reminded by Ror,I shouldn't even try with some people, is now renamed as an insult, but you are, The Queen of Insults .judging by your comments .

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      • CanadianEh

        Nah - She's a smelly little troll, self-centered and arrogant to boot. A worthy candidate for a good slapping in the face with my leathery scrotum.

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        • marcia

          I’m only on 1 site - hardly a troll and definitely not smelly. I’m far from self centred as you can tell by my comments that were very level and only got a bit “iffy” when people started being nasty and racist and arrogant, as there is just no need for it! I’m a retired nurse and do charity work and feel sorry for people like you who are nasty pieces of work.
          WHATEVER NASTY REPLY YOU MAKE, WILL NOT UPSET ME AS I HAVE SEEN AND HEARD IT ALL IN MY CAREER!

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          • CanadianEh

            I admit, I did over-react and was unnecessarily rude. Please accept my apology.

            I forget that I am unable to change people, places or things, and I start thinking my responses are clever and funny - and sometimes they are.

            However, I have to not take myself so damn seriously.

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          • marcia

            Apology accepted👍🏻To be honest, your comment made me laugh and i’ve seen enough leathery scrotums in my nursing career that one extra wouldn’thave mattered 🤣I know that we can all get carried away when we want to defend our opinions and it is frustrating trying to keep it cool and i was earlier calling people idiots, so there you go, nobody’s perfect!

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  8. Donalf

    I would never call sir Lulu "arrogant" firstly because he's not man enough his racing is brilliant can't knock only to say that he's had the best car for sevon years it's the rest of it that is unimportant to most fans. Fashion design, human rights, Blm, and the rest of his good will should have nothing to do with f1so if he could stop using his fame as a springboard for his other enterprises, yeah,, I think I could live with that. 😎

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  9. Donalf

    At the end of the day what with Martin brundle and sir Lulu's home cinema featuring you know who, why don't they call the f1 show, "The sir Lulu's f1 show,, yupp! I like that.

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  10. shroppyfly

    I haven't read Senna's whole life history, but it seems to me that he wasn't exactly blessed with the silver spoon treatment,dont know if others will agree on that, by the time he got into a competitive car in f1, he certainly didn't have to buy his seat as someone suggested,and as for Mansell/Senna in 92 , it was legendary AS it happened, for those that watched it that day

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  11. shroppyfly

    Hell Mika, who used to love Merc through being a long term Ambassador for the Marque, but lol hes certainly no fan of LaLa

    “I wonder how Lewis behaves in the team meetings – I bet he’s sulking. I can imagine the sulking. There’s lots of complaining and whining.

    No surely not, i thought all online stuff was by non Hamilton fans..

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  12. Susan

    More importantly, where in the world is Angela? Is she AWOL? MIA? Has she been canned? Could it be Sir Lulu is taking care of his own bags, now. Inquiring minds need to know!

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    • shroppyfly

      Haven't seen the fps and quali, is Angela not in Italy then?, Oh dear , perhaps she has been sacked, if performance this season is anything to go by maybe she has been sacked,however Ror broke the news about Lulu marrying her,so maybe shes out buying football clubs as a present for him ?
      So your right Susan, we need to know ASAP...!

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      • Blofly

        Silly, you don’t play football with clubs, even I know that, it must be golf clubs.
        More likely as Mercedes are only pretending this year he’s giving her time off to do her bike riding thing.

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      • Donalf

        Can someone tell me where Al the usual sky commentators were today,. No brundle, herbert, hill, de—resta must say that I didn't miss them though, the two girls, nico rosbergs commenting was like a breath of fresh air.

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        • CanadianEh

          Who cares. Frankly, it was a welcome relief to get a Scottish accent in the Commentators Box. Succinct, witty comments, and spoken in a normal tone of voice. The other guy there - forget his name - wasn't screaming the whole time about Dame Lucy like he normally does.

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    • CanadianEh

      I was shocked to read that Angela is MIA! OMG - what will Dame Lucy do without her Dresser?

      Perhaps she's simply had enough of the bulls__t, and has decided to devote herself to the people that really matter in her life. I sincerely hope that's the case.

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  13. Rick

    Suck it up hampster cry baby you are paid a fortune to do your job. Any excuse because you aren't competitive this season. There was no complaining about it when you were winning everything! STFU&D or P### Off.

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  14. Rooman

    7 world championships, 103 pole positions, 103 Grand Prix victories & 183 podium finish’s.... yeah tremendous success like that is really bad for his mental health. One defeat and and he treats it like he’s had the worst career and life of all time, saw something similar to this when Rosberg beat him in 2016, only winning satisfies him and that boys and girls is bad for your mental health. Please stop playing the victim sir Lewis.

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    • Susan

      Think most “normal” people enjoy winning over losing. It appears if Lou can’t win, he doesn’t want to play anymore or worse just complain and whine at every opportunity. Getting a bit tiresome to listen to.

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  15. Susan

    True champions take defeat with successes. Whining is not a good character trait. Lewis has had a great career. However, other than Rosberg, he never was really challenged during his seven championships. He still won, granted, but Mercedes cars have become legendary.
    If both Mercedes cars are equal, why has GR been able to succeed and Lewis has not?

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  16. Susan

    Can we go back to the good old days of toxic masculinity? Where men sucked it up, didn’t cry like girls. Do you think Fangio or Jim Clark would act like Hamilton? Or wear clown clothes to the race and have a female running behind him carrying all his “stuff”? I long for the good old days!

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    • shroppyfly

      Not sure how old this is ,, but lets bring a little class to proceedings with some poetry, as you hanker back to the good old days Susan

      in days of old when knights were bold
      and horrors lurked every corner
      the knights so bold weren't scared we were told
      and fought in every danger

      Of course, it can interpreted to modern day f1, or just make yoir own version of it lol

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    • Donalf

      Yes but we have to go through all this c**p before we realise how good the old days were, for instance I've just watched half an hour of Miamis celebrations and if f1 is going to go down this route forget it, like being at a heavy weight boxing match, cut the glamour, except for the girls.

      Reply
  17. susan

    Thanks for the poem, it cheered me. I remember that as a kid. Now that Lulu is a knight, he can go around tell everybody this poem. It will make people happy. It is probably required to know this poem in the “knight club”.

    Reply
  18. Susan

    I have a brilliant idea for Sir Louise. Sit down with the FIA and explain to them what rules he is willing to consider. Lacy racing panties and jewelry are out. Absolutely no comprise there. May go along with the RD if he only benefits LH, the guy has to understand Lou’s in very fragile state right now and just can’t deal with bad calls. These discussions will be left open in the event Lou has some other question or disagreement that the FIA needs to understand. This should be less stressful for the knight until he starts winning again.

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  19. Blofly

    There’s no such thing as bad publicity. Wow Sir must be laughing all the way to the bank No other f1 driver comes remotely close.

    Reply

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