Sure, with Fernando Alonso, a 41-year-old double Formula 1 world champion is currently experiencing his third spring in the motorsport premier class, the “normal” F1 star, no matter how successful, is usually approaching the end of his career from his mid-30s. Record title holder Lewis Hamilton, on the other hand, feels better than ever.
The 38-year-old Brit, who the media has said more than once that his record-breaking career is coming to an end, has now commented on a possible end to his career and was quite surprised with his answer.
“I don’t plan on retiring anytime soon,” the Mercedes star told ESPN last weekend during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku. “I’m not at the end of my career, I’m not in the downward spiral of my career. I’m in my prime.”
How long he will be at the wheel of an F1 car depends “on how hard I want to work and how well I stay physically and mentally fit,” Hamilton continued.
Role models from other sports also give him an incentive for a long and continued successful career, explained the seven-time F1 title winner. “If you look at LeBron [James, d.Red] or Tom Brady, they’ve shown that as long as you put in enough energy and time, you can do it.”
“I’m happy where I am”
Hamilton’s contract with Mercedes ends in 2023, but team boss Toto Wolff never left any doubt that Woking was still willing to rely on the veteran: “We’ve been with Lewis for ten years, and that won’t change,” countered Wolff recently rumors in an interview with “Sky” that Mercedes wants to replace Hamilton with Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc.
Hamilton, on the other hand, admitted to having flirted with the end of his career at his first team McLaren or in the traditional Ferrari, but made it unmistakably clear. Mercedes is his “home. I’m happy where I am. I haven’t signed a contract yet, but we’re working on one.”