Lewis Hamilton concerned about contracting COVID-19 again as he makes ‘personal choice’

Sir Lewis Hamilton has been seen regularly wearing a face mask in an attempt to minimise the likelihood of him contracting COVID-19 again.

Despite Formula 1’s rules on mask-wearing as a precaution against COVID-19 having been significantly relaxed, Sir Lewis Hamilton has been seen making a return to wearing the protective face piece, leaving many to wonder why.

Hamilton has actually contracted COVID-19 twice since the start of the pandemic, with the seven-time World Champion having had to sit-out the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix due to his positive status.

It was at that race where Sergio Pérez claimed his first victory in the sport, and where George Russell saw his Mercedes F1 Team debut end in disappointing fashion.

Russell replaced Hamilton at the German team for that race, where he looked on track to claim his first victory in the sport.

READ: Mercedes admit George Russell had slower car than Lewis Hamilton

Victory was snatched from Russell’s grasps, after a botched pit-stop saw the Brit fitted with Valtteri Bottas’ tyres.

As a result, Russell was forced to immediately pit again. He later suffered a slow puncture and again had to pit.

Missing the Grand Prix had no effect on the Drivers’ Championship, with Hamilton having already wrapped it up.

As well as making a return to mask-wearing, Hamilton has asked Mercedes for his media duties to continue to be done via Zoom, despite the German team having very recently reopened the motorhome doors to journalists and reporters.

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It took Hamilton a considerable amount of time to completely recover from the illness, with the 37-year-old having suffered from dizziness after the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix as a result of long-covid.

The British driver informed the media that it was his “personal” decision to go back to mask-wearing, with the Brit being concerned about catching it again.

“No, this is a personal choice,” Hamilton revealed.

“I just noticed a lot of people around me are getting sick and I definitely don’t want to get sick again. I’ve already experienced it twice.

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“A lot of my friends have messaged me that they’ve got Covid and some of them are much worse than others.

“No one’s wearing a mask, so I’m definitely wearing mine. I urge people to do what they want to do, it’s your health at the end of the day, but I want to go home healthy.

“I want to be able to get up and train and do the things I love doing and I try, if I can, to keep the people that I love around me safe when I can, when I’m around them,” the Mercedes driver concluded.