Lewis Hamilton insists he is “not going anywhere” after posting a defiant message to social media to mark the end of F1 testing.<\/p>\n
The seven-time F1 drivers’ champion conceded he “forgot” who he is during his first campaign with Ferrari, which proved to be the most difficult year of his career.<\/p>\n
Unable to reach the podium across the 24-round slate for the first time, the 41-year-old cut a despondent figure for much of the season.<\/p>\n
Amidst his self-flagellation, he was heavily criticised for his performances and conduct in the press, with various high-profile names from motorsport calling on him to retire.<\/p>\n
However, Hamilton has pressed on despite the speculation and at the advent of the new chassis and power unit regulations cycle, Ferrari has looked strong.<\/p>\n
Whilst the competitive balance will not become truly clear until several rounds into the season, the SF-26 appears to be a formidable starting point for the Italian team to build from.<\/p>\n
“That’s a wrap on testing,” the 105-time grand prix winner wrote on social media. “It’s inspiring to watch a team pull out all the stops to build a car.<\/p>\n
“It’s the most fascinating part of this job for me. Everything is built from scratch and designed and redesigned over and over. And then there are only a few of us who get to put that machine to the test. That feeling never gets old.<\/p>\n
“I want to say a huge thank you to everyone in the team back at the factory for the hard work to get to this point!! I am truly grateful.<\/p>\n
“I love this job so much and I love working with my team and driving for the fans. I’m incredibly lucky to be able to do what I do, and I’m excited for the season ahead.”<\/p>\n
Tackling last year’s lacklustre form head-on, Hamilton implored his supporters to “stick with” him as he embarks on his 20th campaign in F1.<\/p>\n
“I’m re-set and refreshed. I’m not going anywhere, so stick with me,” the British driver added as part of a powerful conclusion to the post.<\/p>\n
“For a moment, I forgot who I was, but thanks to you and your support you’re not going to see that mindset again.<\/p>\n
“I know what needs to be done. This is going to be one hell of a season. I’ve given everything to be here today. Let’s go team!!!”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lewis Hamilton insists he is “not going anywhere” after posting a defiant message to social media to mark…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":495268,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,827,817,830,828,831,829,826,813,816,823,825,824,822,85],"class_list":["post-495267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-daniel-ricciardo","tag-f1","tag-f1-calendar","tag-f1-live","tag-f1-results","tag-f1-standings","tag-ferrari","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-lewis-hamilton","tag-max-verstappen","tag-motorsport","tag-racing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=495267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495267\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/495268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=495267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=495267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=495267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}