Lewis Hamilton makes definitive statement on F1 retirement talk

Lewis Hamilton has joked about how Fernando Alonso’s age could determine the point at which he decides to call time on his own F1 career.

Now in his forties, Hamilton is one of F1’s elder statesmen, but has poured cold water on any speculation that he could retire from F1 any time soon.

Lewis Hamilton ‘not planning on stopping anytime soon’

Taking on a fresh challenge for F1 2025 after more than a decade at Mercedes, Hamilton’s switch to Ferrari coincided with his 40th birthday.

Aiming to deliver the Scuderia its first Drivers’ World Championship since Kimi Raikkonen’s success in 2007, Hamilton is attempting to upset the history books in more ways than one.

Not only is he targeting a record-breaking eighth title, but he would be the first driver since Jack Brabham in 1966 to achieve a title after reaching 40 years of age. Winning the title this, or next, year would make Hamilton the third-oldest World Champion in F1 history, with Giuseppe Farina and Juan Manuel Fangio 43 and 46 years old, respectively, at the time of their last titles.

But Hamilton has had a difficult start to life at Ferrari, although there have been recent indications that the seven-time F1 World Champion is starting to get to grips with the SF-25 and with embedding himself in the Scuderia.

Aside from his Sprint race victory in China, Hamilton is yet to stand on the podium while wearing red, and all sorts of speculation has been floated around about the British driver’s enthusiasm for F1 – in the final years of a career filled with success, just how hungry is he?

The rumours include the presentation of theories that Hamilton could call time on his F1 career well before the end of his current contract with Ferrari, perhaps even at the end of this year, but Hamilton has firmly refuted any idea that he could walk away.

“I have no intention of stopping anytime soon,” Hamilton told French magazine L’Equipe.

With fellow F1 World Champion Fernando Alonso still on the grid and competitive at 44 years old – another driver aiming to add to his title tally – Hamilton joked that his own career longevity could be tied into his former teammate’s age.

“I really appreciate that Fernando Alonso is continuing, because it means he’s older than me. I’ll keep going until he’s 50!”

Hamilton’s clarification on this comes just days after former F1 chairman Bernie Ecclestone opined that the Ferrari driver needs to call time on his career after 19 years, for the sake of his legacy.

“He should stop,” Ecclestone said.

“The danger is that – if he continues for another year or a year and a half and hasn’t gotten better by then – people will forget him and his achievements.”

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc head-to-head

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

Hamilton is unmarried, and said F1 demands too much from him to be willing to put less than full effort into his chosen profession – family life is simply incompatible with this perspective, for the time being.

“I have always been impressed by Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, and other greats like Tom Brady who have families and continue to give their all,” he said.

“For me, it just didn’t happen. It’s not a priority. My priority has always been my love for Formula 1. The love of my life is Formula 1.

“I love this job almost more than anything else. My niece and my family will always be the priority, but… I don’t like doing things halfway; I wouldn’t give 100 per cent. I’m not saying that others don’t. I have to be stubborn, train, be super diligent, be involved. I have to give something up.

“I don’t want to be in a position where I have to choose: either racing goes badly so that my family can succeed, or my family suffers so that racing can succeed.

“For now, I don’t have to choose, and I’m happy to focus on one thing. And even if I sacrifice everything for it, it’s very difficult to succeed.

“Of course, I’ve imagined in my head how nice it would be if one of my children came to see Ferrari, was amazed by it, could get on board, and share this universe. Because racing has been the most important part of my life since I was a child.”

But, when the inevitable day does come that Hamilton retires from F1, he suspects he is the type of personality who will shy away from the public eye of the sport and that he won’t find the paddock a pleasant place to be.

In this regard, Hamilton suspects he could be like Sebastian Vettel, who has only shown up to a handful of F1 races since retiring at the end of 2022.

“I don’t know if I really want to come back,” Hamilton said.

“I don’t imagine myself coming to a circuit and staying in the garage.

“I see that others do it a bit, maybe after a month, it will change, and I will be able to just come and enjoy it, maybe I will be disconnected, and it’ll be fine.”

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