2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton has admitted that he considered quitting the sport of Formula One altogether in the aftermath of early 2009's Liegate scandal which saw him found guilty of lying to the race stewards.
Hamilton, along with McLaren team manager Dave Ryan, were implicated in the scandal after being found to have misled race stewards in Melbourne over Hamilton and Jarno Trulli's behaviour behind a late race safety car.
Ryan left the team as a result of the incident, and Hamilton was handed a suspended three race ban, with the British driver coming under heavy criticism for his actions.
And he has now admitted that the pressure over the incident became so much for him to take that he nearly considered quitting the sport.
"There was a lot to take on board after what had gone on," Hamilton whined to the British press.
"I care about how people perceive me. It was a feeling of 'shoot, maybe I shouldn't be in the sport' rather than not in my team. This is my dream team and I am fortunate to have been here from the beginning [of my career].
"I never had a desire to drive for anyone else. So it was not a desire to leave the team, just to stop racing. For a split second it was 'this is too much to take. How do I recover from this?'"
He explained that it was the support that he got after the incident that helped to convince him to remain in Formula One.
"There was support from my family, team, fans, amazing letters and I thought 'you know what, I made a mistake but I am being given a second chance by all these people and support,'" said Hamilton, somewhat nauseatingly.
"I never for a second didn't want to do it, I love racing. Sometimes it is hard to face the music; hard to face people when you know that as soon as you turn your back they are talking about you.
"And for a long period of time, for months, I would walk into a room and I am sure there are some people who walked into the room and they feel cool but for me I just didn't feel positive, it was negative energy and I don't like that.
"But slowly I began to realise that it was not all negative energy and I had a lot of support and respect from people. It made me stronger. It was a real strong experience."
He insisted that his days of randomly lying to race officials were well and truly over, saying that he doesn't want to be in the same position ever again.
"I don't want to be in that position again," he whined.
"It's like when you put your hand out to a certain dog and it bites you, you won't do the same again. It's similar. I have been bitten once and you don't want to get bit again. I don't ever want to be in that position again and I don't feel I ever will be.
"I can't say what will happen in the future but I have always said I love the sport, I love winning and winning in the right way. Integrity is very important to me."
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