In sport, every dominant athlete who appears to be virtually untouchable at their peak will one day have to step aside – their boots, gloves, helmets or uniforms finally hung up to rest.
Athletes and champions bow out of their selected sports every year. But has any 12-month span seen so many titans, widely considered as the greatest of all time in their fields, choose to call time on their outstanding careers?
In a matter of weeks, both Serena Williams and Roger Federer will have smashed their final serves. The NFL’s most decorated player, Tom Brady, has already come out of retirement for what will likely be one final season as quarterback. Snowboarding icon Shaun White and speed skater Ireen Wust both bowed out in Beijing having won medal tallies that may never be matched. Even Valentino Rossi’s unparalleled Moto GP career finally came to its conclusion last November after 22 seasons and seven world championship titles.
In Formula 1, Lewis Hamilton’s achievements place him almost entirely alone in the pantheon of the sport. Only in his tally of seven world championships does he still sit alongside Michael Schumacher. But while his 2021 rival Max Verstappen canters to his second title, Hamilton’s 2022 season has been unlike the 15 that came before it. Heading into round 17, he remains winless: An unprecedented drought for Mercedes’ talisman.
As Hamilton sat with select media including RaceFans in the compact confines of the Zandvoort paddock, the parallels between him and his fellow record-breaking athletes seemed more relevant than ever. In his 38th year, how does someone to whom winning is less of an ambition and more a way of life adjust to the reality that victory remains out of his grasp?
“With great difficulty,” he admits, frankly.
“As athletes, we’re super-determined, we don’t like to lose, we don’t like to fail. Also, failure is not an option, but sometimes you do, and that’s part of the process. It’s how you then don’t beat yourself up and beat yourself down, it’s how you take it on, put it on your back and use it as experience to power forward. And it’s not easy.”
Hamilton does not need to be reminded of how close he came to an unprecedented eighth title last year. But the contrast of fortunes between he and Verstappen in 2022 are stark. Does it hurt him, watching the driver who denied him the ultimate achievement of his career cruise to this…
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