Lewis Hamilton insists he is still working on his “masterpiece” and only he will decide when it is complete.
Hamilton is suffering out on track this season, the Briton struggling more than his team-mate George Russell with his underperforming and porpoising W13.
The 2022 Mercedes with its extreme zero-pod design is proving a handful with the car’s bouncing meaning Mercedes are unable to run it in the optimum window.
But while Russell still finds a way to break into the top-five, Hamilton was down in 13th place at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
Lapped by Max Verstappen in arguably his worst race in seasons, Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Markohad a dig at the Briton after Imola.
“He was lapped by us so maybe he should have stopped last year, he is thinking maybe,” Marko told Sky Sports News.
Hamilton, though, says he will be the one to decide when he’s finished.
“Working on my masterpiece, I’ll be the one to decide when it’s finished,” he posted on social media.
And while that may not have been in response to Marko’s comment, talk of Hamilton’s future is dominating headlines.
The Briton has a contract with Mercedes that runs through to the end of the 2023 championship but unless things begin to turn around, there are some who believe he won’t stick around.
Unused to seeing the seven-time World Champion struggling, Jacques Villeneuve even questionedwhether Hamilton would see out this season.
“Will Hamilton still be there in two, three years?” the Canadian wrote in his column forFormule1.nl. “Will he even reach the end of this season?
“You can’t see into someone’s head. You can be down and depressed or you can be unable to deal with no longer winning.
“Then maybe it’s time to decide life is better without racing. We’ve been surprised in the past – it’s happened that champions have sometimes just had enough.”
Christian Horner, though,has backed the 37-year-old to bounce back.
“He obviously had a horrible weekend but he is still an eight-time World Champion… seven-time! I forgot Nico Rosberg won,” said the Red Bull team boss as per GPFans.
“He hasn’t forgotten how to drive in the last four races so at some point they will sort their issues out and he will become a factor.”