F1 legend Lewis Hamilton admits not leaving Chinese GP hotel for THREE days

Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton admits not leaving Chinese GP hotel for THREE days

Lewis Hamilton has revealed the devastating impact of his loss in China

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Sunday 30 March 2025 09:57

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Lewis Hamilton revealed that he did not leave his hotel room for three days after he lost the championship at the 2007 Chinese Grand Prix.

The seven-time world champion was a rookie driver during the 2007 Formula 1 season, and although he was only in his debut campaign with McLaren, he found himself in contention for the world title.

Hamilton secured four victories and 12 podium finishes in 2007 and entered the Chinese GP, the penultimate race of the season, as the championship leader with a 12-point advantage over team-mate Fernando Alonso.

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The British driver secured pole position for the race, but on Sunday had to tackle tricky conditions with the track moving from wet to dry with the threat of rain still lingering in Shanghai.

How did Hamilton lose the 2007 F1 world championship?

However, when Hamilton entered the pits to make his crucial pit stop on lap 30, the pit lane was still not dry. Coupled with his worn tyres, the young star slid off the track and beached his McLaren into the gravel.

Hamilton suffered his only retirement and only finish outside of the top ten that season in China, but the DNF also had devastating consequences for his title hopes.

Kimi Raikkonen won in China and Brazil to secure the 2007 championship, and Ferrari’s last drivers’ title, with one point separating him from Hamilton and Alonso.

Fortune finally favoured Hamilton a year later at Interlagos, when he overtook Timo Glock on the last lap of the Brazilian Grand Prix to claim the 2008 world title, but back in 2007 the championship blow hit the now seven-time champion hard.

In a recent interview with W Magazine China, Hamilton revealed that he did not leave his hotel room for three days and that it took him a long time to bounce back from the disappointment in 2007.

"I think it's a part of a growing process. If I look back to the first year I came here to Shanghai, I remember after the race I didn't leave my hotel room for three days," he said.

"It took me a long time to really bounce back from the feeling I was having. I couldn't understand the pain I was feeling or where it was coming from.

"Of course, I knew it was coming from an event I just had but I couldn't control and I didn't have the tools and I think it's really about as you go through life finding those tools to aid you through those difficult times."

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