Lewis Hamilton says any suggestions he could leave Mercedes due to their current problems are “nonsense”.
This year’s new regulations have put the seven-time world champion and his team on the back foot as porpoising issues mean Mercedes are unable to extract the optimum performance from the W13.
In the first four races alone, Hamilton has already suffered a first Q1 exit since 2017 in Jeddah and finished a lap down in a race for the first time in almost five years at Imola.
First Q1 exit since 2017 in Jeddah ✅
First +1 Lap race finish since 2017 at Imola ✅#LewisHamilton ending some very unwanted streaks this season…#F1 #Formula1 pic.twitter.com/E33KaCxKkr— InsideRacing.com (@INSIDERACINGcom) April 25, 2022
With no quick solution to Mercedes’ problems in sight, two-time F1 champion Mika Hakkinen recently claimed the Briton could consider switching teams for 2023, but Lewis quickly quashed that idea.
“I’ve seen a couple of comments from certain individuals that I remember growing up respecting when I was younger, but ultimately their comments are silly and a bunch of nonsense all in the aim to get headlines to keep themselves relevant,” he said via Crash.net.
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“I’ve been with Mercedes since I was 13. We’ve had amazing times together, we’ve ridden the highs and lows together. I am 100% committed to this team. There’s nowhere else that I want to be.
“Just because we’ve hit a rough patch, it’s just not in my DNA to back out. We are still world champions and we can fix this. It’s just going to take longer, it’s going to take a painful year.
“I think, ultimately, this is going to be a painful year that we’re going to have to ride out together with belief that we can rectify it at some point, maybe through the year or even the worst-case scenario, at least for next year.”
After Imola, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko also aimed a shot at Hamilton, telling Sky Sports: “He was lapped by us so maybe he should have stopped last year!”
That comment was blasted as a “cheap shot” by pundit Johnny Herbert with the 37-year-old adding his own response on Instagram.
“Working on my masterpiece. I’ll be the one to decide when it’s finished,” he wrote.
Hamilton is currently under contract at Mercedes until the end of 2023.