F1 News
Button: 'I don't expect Hamilton to retire'
- Cas van de Kleut
Lewis Hamilton is going through a difficult period in Formula 1. The British driver's dream is to become the best driver of all time by taking his record-breaking eighth world title. However, his Mercedes is currently not competitive enough to compete for the championship. Therefore, there is much speculation about retirement for the seven-time world champion, but Jenson Button does not expect Hamilton to just quit.
In 2021, his eighth and record-breaking World Championship slipped away right in front of the Mercedes driver, after Max Verstappen managed to win the world title at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on the very last lap. New regulations came into play in 2022, which clearly did not favour Mercedes.
In 2023, a championship-winning season was not expected either: Hamilton is currently fourth in the championship, 47 points behind current leader Max Verstappen. With just one podium, there doesn't seem to be much in it for the Briton, and rumours are circulating that he wants to retire after this season.
However, Jenson Button does not expect his former teammate to call it quits after this season, telling Sky Sports F1 and others: "As a racing driver, you have two things; One, if you're winning for so long and then you're suddenly not, you want to fight back to winning. So you're not going to retire. And then you can come at it the other way. If you're in a bad car you want to retire, if you've been there for many years in a bad car, because it just gets you down. Lewis is not in a bad car. He's in a car that's not as good as what he's used to."
Another Hamilton world title?
Button also thinks Mercedes is going to come back into the championship battle: "It probably won't be this year but in 2024, I think we'll see Lewis Hamilton on the grid. I think he's still hungry to win another world championship."