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Lewis Hamilton would rather retire than “half-arse” Formula 1, after signing a new two-year deal partly inspired by this year’s title fight reinvigorating his love for racing.
Another defeat at the hands of title rival Max Verstappen and Red Bull took the shine off Hamilton’s contract announcement at the Austrian Grand Prix, but the enthusiasm behind his new deal was still evident as he ran through the rationale behind the two-year extension mid-weekend.
Hamilton discussed the impact the Verstappen/Red Bull fight has had on reinvigorating his love for F1, how these talks were so much easier than the 2021 negotiations, why he saw “no reason” to walk away and what will determine whether that changes – likely before he turns 40.
After signing his 2021 deal, Hamilton said that he wouldn’t let success this season determine his future and that it was more important that he has a smile on his face when he leaves the garage.
While the recent defeats to Verstappen have left Hamilton on a five-race winless run and 32 points adrift in the championship, Hamilton says he revelled in the first part of the season when they were neck-and-neck and it was hard to call who would win on a given weekend.
Asked by The Race about the impact of this season’s battle on his enthusiasm for F1, Hamilton said: “The start of this season, when the cars were so close in performance, pretty much equal, it was really one of the most exciting times I’ve had for some time.
“Honestly, I was really hoping that it would continue on like that through the rest of the year but as you’ve seen they’ve taken this huge leap forward.
“We’re always in different places in our lives and it’s important that we take time to evaluate, it’s important that we do what’s right for us in terms of health and mental wellbeing.
“It’s a long, long, long journey and I think it’s always a good time to try and reflect and see, ‘OK, what’s next?’.
“I found myself just waking up thinking about racing, so I wanted to continue to race. And now we’re having this battle, it’s brought me closer to the team, it’s brought me closer to the engineers, it’s making me dig deeper and I love that.
“I guess it has been reinvigorating the love that I have for this sport and for what I do.”
There are compelling arguments for Hamilton to continue: he loves racing, he can still win, he’s not declining as a driver, he’s earning a fortune and he’s got the chance to make a serious impact off-track through causes that are dear to him.
His enduring off-track motivation to hold Mercedes and F1 to higher standards on the issues of diversity and sustainability remains a key part of it.
When he signed his one-year extension for 2021, it was thought that any difference in salary – understood to be reduced in COVID times – would be matched by an equivalent investment into the new charitable foundation Mercedes and Hamilton have started together.
Soon, Hamilton will reveal the findings of the Hamilton Commission he founded to understand the factors behind motorsport having so many underrepresented groups.
He has cited “the conversations we have in the background” and “knowing what this sport can be and want to be a part of helping the sport evolve, and to be as great as it can be” as a core supplementary point to his on-track focus.
“Last year and what you’re seeing now, we’re entering an interesting phase, for me personally because it’s not just the racing it’s what’s coming up, the work that we are doing as a sport in terms of trying to make it a more diverse and inclusive space,” he says.
“I’ve been a part of the start of that and I want to continue with that. I love working with this team. I feel constantly challenged and I think we’re being challenged more than ever this year which is great. And I love racing, this is what I was born to do.
“I still feel fit, I still feel as committed as ever. So, I didn’t see a reason to stop.”
That explains why this latest deal, for two years, was so much easier to complete than the one-year agreement that covered 2021 and was only completed in February. The disrupted and unpredictable calendar in the pandemic had been a big factor in delaying negotiations.
Hamilton admitted that in the past he has preferred to avoid in-season negotiations because they risk being drawn out and that has made it stressful before.
But he called this a “much, much, much” better experience and expressed a lot of gratitude to Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff and Daimler chief Ola Kallenius for their support in the negotiation process.
Given he is understood to be returning to a higher pre-COVID salary that reportedly helped him earn up to £40m a year, that can also partly be interpreted as Mercedes taking no issue with any demands on Hamilton’s side – something that tallies with Wolff saying there were no hurdles in the way of getting this deal done.
“It was a lot smoother than it was in December and January,” says Hamilton.
“I had a lot on, over Christmas and New Year’s is a stressful period and we were doing this over Zoom, which is not always the most productive when you’re having these conversations.
“This one was much, much easier and Toto and I spent a lot more time together face-to-face. The past contract was potentially going to be a two-year deal.
“I asked for that to be one year because we’d been through a pandemic and there was so much change in the world. And I was unsure of whether I’d continue or not.
“We started the year, had the best and most enjoyable start of the year, enjoyed the rollercoaster ride that we’re having, and the best thing was to be able to get this done before the summer break.
“Now we can just focus on being the best team we can be.”
Hamilton’s admission that he had an element of uncertainty over how he’d feel about continuing is consistent with Wolff’s claim that the subject of retirement cropped up during their discussions.
Though Hamilton said he couldn’t explicitly remember that, he knows he is much closer to the end of his career than the beginning. He implied that this deal could be his last, stating he has no plans to be in F1 until he’s 40. He’ll be 39 at the start of 2024, so a new deal would take him very close to that milestone.
Wolff said in Mercedes’ announcement of Hamilton’s new deal that he will have a place in the team until his “fire” goes out.
Hamilton says that’s not happening right now but, when it does, he will walk away rather than eke out the end of his career just for the sake of it.
“I’m constantly being challenged,” he says.
“We’re constantly having to push ourselves and elevate and it’s a constant struggle within this sport trying to get the car right each weekend, try and understand the tyres, trying to understand the aero config – each track is different, each compound is different at different tracks and different surfaces.
“You’ve got young guys coming through doing great, you’ve got Red Bull who have just got an amazing package this year, McLaren have just really progressed so well and I’m so happy for them.
“It’s exciting, it’s the closest pack that we’ve probably ever had and I’m excited to see what the next year holds in terms. I hope that remains the same in terms of closeness.
“There’s going to be a point in which I’m going to want to move on to do different things and I guess it just always comes down to how I never would do anything half-arsed.
“So, I’m not going to do it at 80%, 70%, and just trundle along. There are people that can do that. I’m only here to win, so if there’s ever a point where I feel that I don’t want to commit the time or the effort, the mental energy that it takes, that will be the time for me to stop.
“I don’t plan to be here until I’m 40. I hope I have something else exciting to do beyond.
“But regardless, no matter what time you stop, I’m going to miss this sport. I’m going to miss the competing side of it for sure.”
