'I'm back!' - Lewis Hamilton ends silence

Lewis Hamilton has returned to social media following a lengthy silence to announce to Formula One: "I'm back!"

Hamilton had dropped out of public sight after he was denied a record eighth championship in the December finale in Abu Dhabi.

But he re-emerged on Saturday with a post that showed the seven-time champion smiling from what appears to the Grand Canyon.

"I've been gone. Now I'm back!" wrote Hamilton.

Hamilton did one brief post-race interview following his December 12 loss to Max Verstappen in Abu Dhabi.

He skipped the mandatory news conference, swerved the gala in Paris, and his last public appearance was three days after the Abu Dhabi race when he received his knighthood at Windsor Castle.

Hamilton declined to speak to the media at Windsor Castle and his last social media post had been the night before the season finale.

Speculation has swirled that Hamilton, who turned 37 last month, will retire from F1 over his disgust at how the championship was decided.

Hamilton was within minutes of breaking Michael Schumacher's record with an eighth title until Nicholas Latifi's late crash changed everything.

Eventually, Verstappen beat Hamilton in a controversial one-lap shootout that the governing body is still reviewing.

Hamilton had a nearly 12-second lead with Verstappen in second when the crash brought out the yellow flag with five laps remaining.

Verstappen pitted for fresh tyres while Hamilton stayed on track. The race director, Australian Michael Masi, initially said lapped drivers could not pass the safety car, then reversed the call in a decision that left Verstappen second when the race resumed.

Verstappen then passed Hamilton to win his first world championship, leaving the Briton utterly deflated.