Could Lewis Hamilton retire after Abu Dhabi?
Lewis Hamilton's first season at Ferrari summed up in a single image
This week marked nine years since Nico Rosberg suddenly announced his retirement from F1, so drained from the task of beating Lewis Hamilton that he could no longer go on.
Rosberg’s retirement gave birth to a fun new game at the end of each season when everyone tries to predict which driver could walk away without warning. At the end of a miserable first season with Ferrari, Hamilton himself is the perfect candidate in 2025…
Lewis Hamilton has had a miserable first season with Ferrari
A version of this article originally appeared in PlanetF1.com’s conclusions from the 2025 Qatar Grand Prix
Blame Nico Rosberg.
Ever since the newly crowned world champion walked away without warning in 2016, it has become a sport itself – all part of the fun – to second-guess which driver might be thinking about dropping the mic at the end of each season.
The candidates are relatively easy to spot: former world champions of a certain age who have fallen on hard times and increasingly carry the tormented, weary look of yesterday’s man.
The most memorable example of the Abu Dhabi Guessing Game came at the end of 2019, the year Sebastian Vettel’s wobble turned into an irreversible slide at Ferrari.
Lewis Hamilton vs Charles Leclerc: Ferrari head-to-head scores for F1 2025
👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates
👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates
On that occasion, a prominent F1 reporter had convinced himself from watching Vettel’s body language before the race that he was going to announce his retirement any minute now.
Hang on! Was that merely the setting sun in Seb’s eyes on the grid just then? Or..?
Perhaps our friend had that famous Mark Webber quote on Vettel – “I think he’ll retire early – he’ll probably take a blast in the red car, then sayonara” – ringing in his ears.
Or perhaps, given that Vettel’s F1 career continued for a further three seasons, he simply misread the situation entirely and the study of body language is something that is best left to the experts.
One could not possibly say.
Yet it is that sort of treatment – people constantly looking for the little signs and analysing every single quote to the nth degree – Lewis Hamilton can probably expect this week.
If so, he will have brought it on himself to a large extent given some of his recent statements about not looking forward to next season and being “eager for it to end.”
His nine-word interview after his latest Q1 exit on Friday in Qatar was the latest mark of a driver down in the dumps to the point of being disinterested.
For all John Elkann’s complaints that his drivers should “talk less”, though, it has been said this season that Ferrari has not helped Hamilton in that regard either this season.
Unlike his Mercedes days, when he would often be allowed to cool off before having to face the media, in 2025 Hamilton has had a microphone shoved in his face instantly moments after climbing out of the car.
So instead of the considered, thoughtful answers he would provide in the past, now every race – sometimes every session – brings an all-new outburst from one of the more emotional drivers on the grid at the best of times.
Fred Vasseur had a point when he said earlier this season that Hamilton’s “extreme” comments to the media have only made a bad situation worse, yet the team has also failed to save him from himself.
More on Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari from PlanetF1.com
Is it the car or is it me? That’s the question Hamilton has grappled with for the last four years.
The car clearly isn’t up to much, but with every Q1 elimination – such a regular occurrence right now that they are fast losing the shock factor – grows the likelihood that Hamilton will become convinced that the problem lies mainly within.
On the brink of turning 41, sounding thoroughly fed up of life at Ferrari and with the situation only getting worse, not better, he seems to tick all the boxes for an Abu Dhabi bombshell.
So could the final race of the season also prove to be Hamilton’s last? Highly doubtful, of course.
But it depends how much you choose to read into that little something in his eye on the grid…
Reader reaction: Where Lewis Hamilton stands at the end of F1 2025
David R. Gie: Lewis is finished!!
Pending Approval: Lewis can spend as much time torturing himself as he wants. Facts are….he is done. Returning next year will only make matters worse.
Erik Scherer: It makes me laugh when the commentators on F1TV are “shocked” when Lewis gets eliminated in Q1. 🤭
M Andrea: Ferrari had a trash weekend in Qatar, Hamilton taking Ferrari to levels unseen with another trash performance.
DearLider: Clearly his problem is not just the car.
It’s a Lewis problem that has been brewing since 2021, where he lost due to a string of errors, and the controversial nature of Abu Dhabi just rubbed salt in wounds that would have healed if he got the WDC. But now they remain open.
Will he retire early? No because it is already too late to save face. I think he now has to battle the enormous ego telling him to stick it out, vs. the one telling him to go and do something big outside of racing (because he’s definitely no risking more embarrassment in racing).
Lewis might get better. It’s frankly a low bar at this point.
But I know he will never get better enough to start looking strong against Leclerc, so I expect Lewis’ reputation to suffer further until he leaves Ferrari.
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