Lewis Hamilton

Hamilton wanted to retire in Germany

Matthew Scott Wednesday 31 July 2019 12:02 Updated: 14:18

Previously unheard radio messages have revealed that Lewis Hamilton wanted to retire from the German Grand Prix after tumbling down the order at Hockenheim.

Hamilton's race began to fall apart when he spun into the wall on Lap 32 of a crazy race in the wet.

The Mercedes man damaged his front wing close to the pit entry, and the Silver Arrows' crew were not ready for him to pit, having prepared to service team-mate Valtteri Bottas.

An agonising minute-long wait for a change of wing and tyres ensued, costing Hamilton first place in the race, while his pit-entry around the wrong side of a bollard left a five-second penalty hanging over him.

Having served it a later stop, Hamilton spun again on Lap 53.

As he was called into the its, Hamilton told Mercedes over team radio: "Retire the car."

The Briton had battled illness throughout the Hockenheim event and later told BBC Sport: "It felt like the world was ending for me for a lot of time."

However, race engineer Pete Bonington rejected Hamilton's request, replying: "Negative, Lewis, negative. There's always opportunities."

Although Hamilton came back out in last place, the move worked out in the end as he recovered to P11 at the chequered flag and was then bumped up to ninth by post-race penalties, incredibly extending his championship lead over Bottas to 41 points despite the nightmare encounter.

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Hamilton wanted to retire in Germany

Hamilton wanted to retire in Germany