Lewis Hamilton cracks Fernando Alonso joke as he clears up F1 future

Lewis Hamilton has definitively stated that he has no plans to retire from F1 in the near-future.

The seven-time world champion is enduring a difficult start to life with Ferrari and has been comprehensively outperformed by teammate Charles Leclerc in both qualifying and the races.

Hamilton is still awaiting his first grand prix podium as a Ferrari driver and recently cast doubt over his future by making a series of cryptic comments over a torrid Hungarian Grand Prix weekend.

The 40-year-old Briton described himself as “absolutely useless” and claimed Ferrari should replace him after he started and finished 12th in Hungary, though he was more upbeat at the subsequent Dutch and Italian grands prix having felt he had made progress with the SF-25.

Hamilton has now dismissed the possibility of him quitting racing “anytime soon”.

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

Hamilton went on to joke that his future could be linked to former McLaren teammate Fernando Alonso, who turned 44 in July and will continue to race for Aston Martin until at least the end of 2026.

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

Several observers including former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone have urged Hamilton to quit the sport.

“Lewis is very talented, was and probably still is,” Ecclestone recently told the Daily Mail. “But like a lot of leading sports personalities when they reach the top, there is only one way to go and it’s not a good direction. It’s only down.

“They get tired. Lewis is tired. He’s been doing what he is doing forever. He needs a rest from it for good, a total reset to do something completely different. He may not think it, but he will soon get used to doing other stuff away from motor racing. I think he should have done it a while ago.

“The guy is not a cheat, but he would be cheating himself if he goes on.

“He should stop now. If I were looking after him I would negotiate with Ferrari immediately and say, ‘if you have someone to replace Lewis, he’ll step aside.’

“If I were Lewis, I would say to Ferrari that I wanted to be paid all my contract, in full. They signed him because they thought he could do a job. ‘It isn’t working so I can I can make way if you want me to’… but that’s the arrangement.”

Lewis Hamilton loves F1 ‘more than anything else’

Hamilton, who is unmarried and has no children, also spoke about his passion for F1 and the demands of the sport.

“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.”

And Hamilton struggles to see himself returning to the F1 paddock when he does eventually hang up his helmet.

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