Lewis Hamilton has a lot more races behind him than in front, but the Mercedes ace is not thinking of hanging up his racing leathers any time soon
Lewis Hamilton has backed himself to be one of F1’s golden oldies alongside Fernando Alonso.
The seven-time world champion has backed himself to still be behind the wheel when he is way into his 40s. Not only is Hamilton still going strong at the age of 39, he is about to embark on another extraordinary chapter which will see him swap Mercedes for Ferrari at the end of the current campaign.
Hamilton is currently trailing in ninth position in the drivers’ standings, 14 points behind Mercedes team-mate George Russell, who is residing in seventh position. But while some have suggested he should consider departing motorsport, Hamilton insisted he will not be going anywhere any time soon.
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“I never thought I would be racing into my 40s,” Hamilton said on the eve of the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai. “I’m pretty sure I said I wouldn’t.
“I am not the oldest driver here,” Hamilton laughed. “I am going to be racing for quite some time still so it is good [Alonso] is still around. Fernando is one of the best drivers we’ve had in the sport so for him to continue to be here and continue to have the output he’s had just shows what is possible.
“And shows the new era of athlete, what the human body can do and continue to do if you nurture it.” Alonso recently signed a new Aston Martin deal which will keep him in F1 until at least 2025
This means he will still be competing way past his 45th birthday. After the deal was signed, he said: “It’s never an easy time when you have to make some decisions, especially right now.
“For me it’s probably my last contract, so I wanted to make sure that it was the right decision first of all to keep racing in Formula 1, and to have the strength and the motivation to keep racing for a few more years from my side
