Lewis Hamilton is a seven-time world champion and one of the most successful F1 drivers in the sport’s history. The Brit started his incredible F1 journey with Mclaren in 2007 but enjoyed most of his success with Mercedes. However, an interview from 2009 reveals Hamilton’s journey could’ve ended well before he joined his current team.

Hamilton, 24 at the time, pondered upon retirement from the sport as early as 2009 following a controversy. The Briton became a world champion in 2008 by carrying his astonishing form from his debut season. However, the downfall in 2009 and the controversy with Jarno Trulli made Hamilton almost quit.

As we all know, the Mercedes man did not quit but flirted with the idea after the “Lie-gate”. Hamilton revealed, “That one clearly hurt. It took a while to get over. That was a very, very tough time.”

He confirmed the unwavering thoughts of retirement by saying, “I wasn’t messing around. When your emotions are high, you can think all kinds of things.”

However, the former Mclaren man confessed his love for the sport and added, “But what I never forgot was that I love motor racing. I can’t really live without it.”

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The world of Formula 1 would’ve been completely different without Sir Lewis Hamilton and we’re glad he did not retire. But what was the incident that pushed the Briton to the brink of F1 extension?

The Lewis Hamilton controversy ‘Lie-gate’ explained

The bizarre incident between Hamilton and Jarno Trulli at the Australian GP created a lot of confusion. In the end, the confusion led to FIA penalizing Hamilton by disqualifying him and docking his points. The media branded the whole situation as “Lie-gate”.

Hamilton was behind Trulli during the safety car period. Trulli went off track, which forced Hamilton to overtake, which is not allowed according to regulation. After consultation, Hamilton gave the place back to Trulli, but because of miscommunication, Trulli also tried to give the place back.

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The confusing scenario lead to a lot of back and forth on the radio, but eventually, Hamilton came out on the wrong end of things.

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The miscommunication and the confusion led Hamilton to experience a low moment in his F1 career. Thankfully, it did not affect Hamilton enough to make him quit.