Sir Lewis Hamilton staged an incredible comeback drive at the Spanish Grand Prix, after an opening lap collision dropped the British driver to the bottom of the field at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Hamilton’s start was messy; the Brit was the only driver who opted to start on the yellow-banded medium compound, whereas everyone else was on softs.
The Mercedes F1 Team driver visibly had less grip on the opening lap than his opponents, making him unable to carry the same corner speed in Turns 1-4.
Hamilton’s alternate strategy may have played into its own towards the end of the race, however, the 37-year-old picked up a front-left puncture at Turn 4, after colliding with Kevin Magnussen.
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The Haas driver attempted to go around the outside of Hamilton, but the British driver though got a kick of understeer which sent him slightly wider.
Magnussen had insufficient time to react, resulting in both collecting some damage.
Hamilton pitted for new tyres and was over half a minute behind the next car.
A despondent seven-time World Champion was quick onto the radio, telling his team to retire the car.
However, Hamilton’s senior race engineer Peter Bonnington, also known as Bono, stressed to the Brit that retiring wasn’t an option and that points were possible.
By the end of the race, Hamilton had worked his way up to fourth after having the best pace on the grid, he eventually finished fifth due to a late water leak.
Hamilton was left upbeat after the race, however, after seeing social media his mood may have changed.
The Mercedes driver was ridiculed on social media by viewers for asking to retire from the race.
“Bono is a good babysitter,” one Twitter user posted, referring to Bonnington calming Hamilton down and informing him that not all was lost.
Fans were left surprised that Hamilton asked to retire, despite being well-known for saying “I don’t give up”.
“But why, he keeps saying… I don’t give up. He wanted to retire the car at lap 1 in P19,” another commented.
“That’s something I didn’t expect from him about retiring his car, not from a champion, and certainly not from 7-time champion, the car was still fine, it was just a puncture, or else he wouldn’t have finished 5th for sure,” a third posted.
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Social media users went on to question the Brit’s mentality, and whether he was suffering from low self-esteem after what has been a challenging start to the season.
“Wanting to retire losers mentality.”
“Isn’t it obvious that any human will have low esteem when they are in a bad phase!” another commented.
Many also spoke in support of Hamilton, praising what was a sensational recovery drive in extremely challenging conditions.
“The thing that should be looked upon is his recovery and determination to carry on!” a Hamilton fan posted.