Lewis Hamilton's trip across the curb following an early battle with Carlos Sainz in Abu Dhabi had little to do with his eventual retirement on Sunday.

Hamilton found himself bouncing over the curbs at the first chicane on the Yas Marina circuit on the opening lap of Sunday's Grand Prix, after a lunge from Sainz down the inside to try and take position.

Indeed, it was slightly reminiscent of the incident Hamilton had with Fernando Alonso in Belgium, in terms of Lewis having a big impact in coming back down to Earth, and it did not look a very comfortable one on both occasions.

Lewis would eventually retire towards the end of the Grand Prix to rather suitably cap off a tough season for him and his team, by their high standards, but the incident on the opening tour of the circuit did not have much to do with that DNF, Mercedes' James Vowles has explained:

“There was surprisingly little damage from that first lap incident," he said in Mercedes' post-Abu Dhabi debrief.

“The Bib, the area under the car did take a massive impact as a result of it and that won’t be good. The front wing endplate again had a knock but, generally speaking it was fine aerodynamically.

“What happened at the end of the race is actually a loss of hydraulic pressure and had no relation or no bearing to that first lap incident.”

Lewis Hamilton ahead of Carlos Sainz in Abu Dhabi
ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - NOVEMBER 20: Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain driving the (44) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team W13 leads Carlos Sainz of Spain driving (55) the Ferrari F1-75 on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi at Yas Marina Circuit on November 20, 2022 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - NOVEMBER 20: Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain driving the (44) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team W13 leads Carlos Sainz of Spain driving (55) the Ferrari F1-75 on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi at Yas Marina Circuit on November 20, 2022 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

Hamilton said over the weekend that he would be glad that he wouldn't have to drive the W13 anymore after this season, which is understandable given how difficult it has been for the team to try and find an optimal set-up for.

They did make progress over the campaign, though, and hopefully that will continue ahead of 2023 so we can have a tighter fight for the championship than we saw in 2022.

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