Lewis Hamilton has reacted to losing his record of achieving a win in every season of his F1 career after his retirement from the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. After George Russell secured Mercedes' first victory of the season last time out in Brazil, the race at the Yas Marina Circuit offered Hamilton his final chance to take the top spot of the podium following a difficult campaign for the team. Despite showing good pace early in the race, Hamilton struggled as proceedings went on and was eventually forced to retire with a mechanical issue in the latter stages, marking the team's first mechanical failure of 2022. This also meant that the seven-time World Champion had failed to win a race all season for the first time in Formula 1.
Hamilton kept hoping for first win
While 2022 had its ups and downs for Hamilton, the Briton insists that he never stopped hoping for a debut win. "I always believed right until the last race that there was potentially a chance," Hamilton told media, including RacingNews365.com . "I think it's important to hold on to hope and just keep working. "[We] gave it everything, and I think the last race was almost like the whole season summed up. I'm glad it's done."
A win would have been nice, admits Hamilton
Hamilton was disappointed not to secure a victory in 2022, but feels positive about what the team were able to achieve. "Of course it would have been nice to have had a win," he explained. "One win is not really enough, is it? I feel like this year, when we got our first fifth, [it] felt like a win. When we got our first fourth, [it] felt like a win. "When we got our first podium, [it] felt like a win, and those seconds felt like we had really achieved something, so I'll just hold on to those."
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