Lewis Hamilton is a fighter. He’s overcome unimaginable odds throughout his career to carve a niche out for himself in this sport. However, you wouldn’t blame him if the 2021 Abu Dhabi finale fiasco would’ve finally broken him.

But the fighter and champion that he is, he has moved on from the entire debacle and turned a new leaf. But the effects of how he lost the 2021 championship did take a toll on the 7x World Champion, as told by the man himself.

While talking to the Race, Hamilton described exactly how that night in Abu Dhabi felt. He said, “It feels like years ago,” He then went on to describe how the entire ordeal felt like from within the cockpit. “I mean, it was definitely spirit-breaking, soul-crushing, whatever you want to call it. Was I ever truly not going to come back?”

After a moment’s pause, he finally concluded, “I am not one to give up like that, really.”

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Even though, on the face of it, the Brit seems to have moved on from 2021. He admits that Red Bull breaching the cost cap to win the 2021 title just adds more salt to the wound.

Lewis Hamilton admits Red Bull cost cap breach opened up fresh wounds from 2021 title loss

Lewis Hamilton has reiterated time and again that he does not think about Abu Dhabi 2021 anymore. He’s even gone on the record to say that he doesn’t wish that Verstappen is stripped off his 2021 title. But he does admit that the whole 2022 fiasco has cut open fresh wounds.

He spoke about why Red Bull‘s cost breach feels like a kick in the stomach. “Because you kind of buried it and moved on.” He continued, “And then it comes back up and it’s like another bit of a kick. And, yeah, that just bought it all kind of fresh again. So then [it was a case of] just getting back into the phase of just suppressing it and moving forwards.”

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Irrespective, even after his miseries in 2021 and 2022, the question remains, whether Lewis Hamilton stands a chance for redemption by winning that elusive 8th World title?