Lewis Hamilton talks F1 and when he’ll stop
Lewis Hamilton has admitted he will “never know exactly why” a “dream” move to Ferrari never materialised in his career. F1’s most successful driver has been consistently linked with F1’s most successful and famous team over the years - particularly at the end of the 2019 season - but has never come close to joining the Scuderia.
And it is extremely unlikely that he ever will, with his current Mercedes contract tying him to 2023 and the age of 38. Speaking exclusively to Sky Sports in
Italy at Monza, seven-time champion Hamilton said “it’s definitely going to be crazy to think that I never drove for Ferrari”.
“Of course, I look at the colour and the red, it’s just... it’s still the red,” he added. “I have a couple of Ferraris at home, so I do get to drive a Ferrari, just not the one!
“For everyone, that’s a dream position to be in. It was just never really fully on the cards for me.
“I’ll never know fully exactly why, but I wish them all the best, and I’m going to spend the next bit of my time stopping them from winning the championship!”
While Ferrari are the most successful team in F1 history - with a combined 31 drivers’ and constructors’ titles - the last of those came back in 2008, the year Hamilton won his first championship. Since then, Hamilton has added six more while Ferrari have come close but not close enough.
There were links with Hamilton when he left McLaren for Mercedes in 2012 and even stronger rumours at the end of 2019 as the Englishman, who met with Ferrari bosses, headed into the last year of his contract the following season.
In 2020, however, Ferrari signed Carlos Sainz as Sebastian Vettel’s replacement.
In the same interview, Hamilton admitted that he had considered retiring at various times over the last few years - and says he will continue until the “hunger” and “desire” stops.
“There’s definitely plenty of times I’ve had over the last four or five years where I’ve been like, I don’t know if I want to keep giving or sacrificing the training and my personal life,” he said.
“There’s other things that I’d like to do, normal stuff I want to do... but on the other side I’m like, wow, I’m so fortunate that I get to do this job.“In the bigger scheme of things, it’s a little of your life. There’s a long, long time retired.
“So I’m trying to find the right balance. If I’m still hungry, if I can still train myself as I did as a kid, which I do now, and still achieve great results... then great.
“If I start getting slower, I can’t be bothered to train and I’m not as driven, then I know that’s when I need to stop.”