Why Lewis Hamilton once considered quitting Formula 1 ‘for a split second’ after winning his first world championship

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Lewis Hamilton has enjoyed one of the most decorated Formula 1 careers of all time and is looking to add to his trophy cabinet in a new dawn with Ferrari in 2025.

The seven-time champion has raced for two of the most prestigious teams in the sport, winning drivers’ championships with both McLaren and Mercedes.

Hamilton has faced multiple challenges throughout his career, involving major controversy during the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix season finale.

Hamilton’s F1 debut was blocked in 2006, but when he did arrive on the grid the following year, he was spectacular.

With the best rookie campaign in Formula 1 history, he fell just one point short of becoming the first and only debutant to claim a title.

Hamilton nearly ‘exploded like a volcano’ at McLaren just months after winning his title during a torrid 2009 season, which remains one of his most difficult years to date.

READ MORE: Why Lewis Hamilton was left ‘peeved’ when Jenson Button arrived at McLaren as his F1 teammate

Lewis Hamilton considered leaving Formula 1 after first McLaren title for a ‘split second’

Following a major regulation change at the start of the 2009 season, the field had been almost completely flipped on its head.

McLaren and Ferrari were fighting midfield battles all of a sudden and the opening race of the season at Australian Grand Prix produced plenty of drama.

After Toyota’s Jarno Trulli overtook Hamilton under the safety car, both team and driver denied discussing letting the Italian through.

Trulli was penalised to the tune of 25 seconds, losing his podium. A few weeks later, information surfaced which suggested McLaren had instructed to let Trulli through (thus lying and creating the term ‘Liegate’).

The Brit was disqualified and one year later in 2010, spoke of how he nearly decided to quit the sport altogether after the ordeal.

“I care about how people perceive me,” he told British media one week before the start of the 2010 season. “It was a feeling of, ‘Shoot, maybe I shouldn’t be in the sport,’ rather than not in my team.

“This is my dream team and I am fortunate to have been here from the beginning [of my career]. I never had a desire to drive for anyone else. So it was not a desire to leave the team, just to stop racing. For a split second it was, ‘This is too much to take. How do I recover from this?”

READ MORE: Jenson Button recalls the ‘weird’ accusation Lewis Hamilton made in McLaren team order spat

How much did McLaren and Lewis Hamilton struggle during the 2009 Formula 1 season?

After failing to finish higher than fourth during the first half of the season, things began to click just before the summer break for Hamilton in 2009.

He finished off the podium just once after the Hungarian Grand Prix and finally began to come to grips with the new machinery.

McLaren would carry some of that positive momentum into 2010, where they would challenge for both championships.

Sadly, they would fail to replicate the heights reached by Hamilton and themselves during the first few years of his tenure, and he would leave after the 2012 season.

His move to Mercedes, although doubted at the time, turned out to be a stroke of genius, and the rest is history…