Originally, Hamilton couldn't have won today's race anyway; without that honor, in the eyes of a seven-time champion there's no difference between finishing second and finishing twentieth.
So whether he retired or not in this race really didn't matter to Hamilton at this moment.
The only thing Hamilton felt a bit regretful about was that he couldn't help Vettel draw donuts on track to celebrate his retirement.
And what no one expected was that Mercedes and Red Bull were busy tearing each other apart on track today, while Ferrari ended up reaping the benefits from behind.
Leclerc finished this race in second place, bringing 18 points back for the team.
Hamilton had already returned to the team's garage before the race ended.
When he got out of the car, Qin Miao walked over to him, reached out, and patted his teammate's shoulder.
Hamilton turned around, saw that it was Qin Miao who'd patted him, and instead pulled Qin Miao into a hug.
