Hamilton defends his ‘shelf life’: “You can’t compare me to another 40-year-old”

Is 40 too outdated to be a Method 1 driver? Lewis Hamilton definitely doesn’t suppose so.

A part of the explanation why Hamilton has been in a position to be a part of Ferrari for the 2025 season and past is Mercedes agreeing solely to a agency one-year contract for the 2024 marketing campaign, with an possibility for a second 12 months. The seven-time world champion ended up utilizing his contract’s exit clause, along with his transfer to Maranello introduced on 1 February 2024; Mercedes changed him with its 18-year-old wonderkid Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

“There’s a purpose why we solely signed a one-plus-one-year contract,” Mercedes crew principal Toto Wolff defined in Inside Mercedes F1: Life within the Quick Lane, a ebook which was launched final November. “We’re in a sport the place cognitive sharpness is extraordinarily vital, and I consider everybody has a shelf life. So I would like to take a look at the subsequent era.”

Wolff later clarified that, in keeping with him, these feedback had been “taken a little bit bit out of context”.

Albeit unbothered by his boss of 12 years’ principle, Hamilton nonetheless firmly disapproved it. “Don’t ever evaluate me to anyone else,” he told Time Magazine. “I’m the primary and solely black driver that’s ever been on this sport. I’m constructed completely different. I’ve been by so much. I’ve had my very own journey.

“You’ll be able to’t evaluate me to a different 40-year-old, previous or current, Method 1 driver in historical past. As a result of they’re nothing like me. I’m hungry, pushed, don’t have a spouse and youngsters. I’m centered on one factor, and that’s successful. That’s my No. 1 precedence.”

Demonstrating the dimensions of the problem, F1 drivers of their 40s have been uncommon and have had little success within the final 40 years.

There have been solely eight of them, together with three within the twenty first century. The one polesitter and race winner was Nigel Mansell, popping out on prime within the 1994 Australian Grand Prix at age 41 – although Michael Schumacher was 43 when he topped qualifying on the 2012 Monaco GP, dropping pole place to a grid penalty incurred within the earlier spherical.

Race winner Nigel Mansell, Williams

Because it occurs, Hamilton is just not even the oldest driver on the grid in the intervening time, with 43-year-old Fernando Alonso nonetheless main Aston Martin’s effort – however with team-mate Lance Stroll not broadly thought of a dependable benchmark, determining if the Spaniard’s ageing might have triggered any loss in his means is considerably tough.

At pre-season testing in Bahrain, Ferrari crew principal Frederic Vasseur did reward Hamilton’s motivation, claiming the veteran displayed the identical enthusiasm often seen in rookies. After greater than a decade on the similar crew, the Briton feeling rejuvenated in a brand new squad is not any shock.

Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari and Frederic Vasseur, Crew Principal and Basic Supervisor, Scuderia Ferrari

Photograph by: Ferrari

But, regardless of statistically being F1’s most profitable driver, Hamilton might have one thing to show in 2025. After he was signed by Ferrari a 12 months in the past, the Mercedes driver went by maybe his most tough season on the crew. His race tempo remained convincing, however F1’s pole place file holder outqualified George Russell just six times in 30 sessions (inclusive of dash qualifying) – by far his worst file.

Can Hamilton truly seize a record-breaking eighth world title? The 2025 marketing campaign is promising to be as aggressive as its predecessor, and even tighter, with McLaren, Ferrari, Purple Bull and Mercedes anticipated to be frontrunners once more.

“I do know precisely the place the North Star is,” Hamilton mentioned. “I do know the place I have to go. I understand how to get there. It’s far, and it’s going to be robust to get there, however I do know I’ve received all of the elements, all of the folks, a tremendous crew round me. So it’s how a lot you need it. And I can’t specific to you the way a lot I would like it.”

And if the English racer doesn’t make it this 12 months, he’ll strive once more: “What I can let you know is, retirement is nowhere on my radar. I may very well be right here till I’m 50, who is aware of?”