by VALERIO BARRETTA
Hamilton like Alonso: in F1 at 40 (but also beyond)
With the contract renewal announced at the end of August, Lewis Hamilton he has also secured the wheel of Mercedes for the 2024 and 2025 seasons. The seven-time world champion will therefore complete the current power unit cycle when he is 40 years old. And then? Can Hamilton also be seen in Formula 1 with the new engines? Will he also fight against Audi and Ford? Sir Lewis until a few years ago would have replied “Absolutely not“, but now he has learned not to take anything for granted.
Hamilton's words
“What we need to learn is that you never have to say never. I didn't think I'd continue until I was 40, because those are damn long and exhausting seasons. They involve a long period of time away from everyone, and I've been doing it for 16 years“, these are the words to BBC.
“I still like driving, I still like getting in the car. When they start it and there are all those people around you in the pits I still have a smile on my face like the first day I drove“.
When you have 103 successes on your list and are ultimately the most successful driver in the history of Formula 1, it is normal to be treated more harshly than others. A pressure that Hamilton is now used to managing, but which has created problems for him: “It's not at all easy to stay at your best, put in the effort, keep training, keep giving results. There's a lot of pressure, you're constantly being scrutinized and I'm at a point in my life where there's no way to win. If I win a race, they say I'm a seven-time world champion. If I don't do well, I get criticized: at this point in life I can only lose. So, there was definitely a time when I wondered if I wanted to go through this“.
#Hamilton #averts #retirement
