Johannesburg - After months of speculation and uncertainty, Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton have seemingly put paid to any talks of retirement with a two-word post on their Twitter account on Wednesday afternoon.
The Silver Arrows’ official account simply posted “Year 16” with a picture of the seven-time world champion in his new overalls for the 2022 season. Hamilton has largely kept out of the public eye since his dramatic and controversial title loss at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in December last year, where he lost a record-breaking eight world drivers’ title to Dutchman Max Verstappen.
In recent weeks, the Brit has been spotted more on social media, and at Mercedes’ F1 base in Brackley in the UK, but there has been no official word as to whether he would remain in the sport after last season’s fiasco at the final race.
Year 16. 🖤🤍 pic.twitter.com/cxNLGs6Ruo
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) February 16, 2022
That now seems to be a concern of the past, as the twitter post implies with little doubt that Hamilton will participate in his 16th season in F1, which will surely come as a relief for the administrators of the sport, as well as its supporters. And there was more to see of the 37-year-old on @MercedesAMGF1 a few hours later, as a masked Hamilton dropped some sage advice and a few pointers to his new teammate George Russell at the latter’s W13 seat fitting.
Mercedes are scheduled to unveil their new car on Friday, with Ferrari announcing their challenger on Thursday. Haas, Red Bull, Aston Martin, McLaren and AlphaTauri have already unveiled their new designs for the upcoming season. Alpine and Alpha Romeo will present their cars in the coming fortnight.
George's W13 seat fit = ✅ Next stop... Launch day! 🤩 pic.twitter.com/RlkX2GuGRq
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) February 16, 2022
Pre-season testing will begin next week Wednesday in Spain, and will be followed two weeks later with a second testing session in Bahrain. A week later, on the weekend of March 18, the Bahrain International Circuit will then host the season-opening Grand Prix.
Meanwhile, Netflix confirmed that the fourth season of Drive to Survive, which follows the trials and tribulation of F1 teams throughout the year, will be released on the streaming service on March 11.