LEWIS HAMILTON has broken his silence on the retirement rumours that surrounded him during the off season.
Mercedes have congregated at Silverstone today to reveal their new W13 car ahead of the 2022 season.
Hamilton, 37, admitted that he’s ‘excited’ to drive his new motor after the ‘incredible hard work’ of the all team’s engineers.
On talk that he could have called it a day, he revealed: “I never, ever said I was going to stop.
“I love doing what I do, you really feel part of a family and a team working towards a common goal.
“It was a difficult time for me and was a time to take a step back and have my family around me.
“I think it’s going to be an exciting season.”
On George Russell’s addition to the team, he added: “It’s always good to have fresh blood.”
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Team principal Toto Wolff also had his say on the FIA, amid the news that race director Michael Masi was relieved of his duties yesterday.
The Austrian, 50, said: “I think it’s very encouraging to see that action has been taken. There is a much-more robust structure now.
“The FIA has stated that there will be a virtual Race Control Room with state of the art technology.
“And the new guys are going to be in place for the Barcelona test and I think the right steps. It is a new era for the sport.”
On how he’s settling in with the Silver Arrows, Russell said: “It’s easier because there are so many faces that I’ve known over the past six or seven years now.
“When we started working together, we’re straight into business.
“Obviously, the relationships are always built over time, but I only knew so many of the people and obviously having worked with Lewis…
“Seeing Lewis work when I was a junior driver, it feels quite natural to go in there being team-mates with him racing alongside him.
“I think it’s going to be a really exciting season for all of us and for Formula One generally because there’s so much that has changed.
“There’s so much to learn. There’s gonna be so much development over the course of this this season.
“We really need to be on top of our game as as drivers to help give the feedback to the team and working as one to to really push the car forward because I think from the first race to the last race of the season, they’ll probably be some drastic changes we see on the cars.”
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