[ad_1]
Lewis Hamilton took a suspenseful stance after winning the Emilia Romagna GP and helping seal Mercedes’ seventh consecutive championship, making it clear that he has not yet decided to renew his contract with the team. The Englishman recently became the record holder for Formula One victories and is close to his seventh world title, which would put him on an equal footing with Michael Schumacher. But he still does not have a closed contract for 2021.
When asked about the future of another Mercedes star that is not confirmed for next year, boss Toto Wolff, Hamilton said: “I don’t even know if I will be here next year” at the press conference held right after victory at Imola. . He then said that he is evaluating whether the time has come to pursue other challenges outside of Formula 1.
“I would like to be here next year, but I’m not sure. There are many things that excite me about the life that I will have after I retire. There are many things in my head right now.”
It is the first time that Hamilton doubts his immediate future. In previous interviews, he had made it clear that he had not decided to extend his contract, which would be his last with Mercedes. He is relatively young, 36 years old in January, on a grid that will have Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen surpassing 40 by the end of next year, but he made no secret that he would like to play other projects off the court.
And your schedule is full. Hamiton is an activist for the environment and racial equality, in addition to being a fashion stylist and having also dabbled in the world of music. It recently formed a team to compete in the Extreme E championship, in which electric SUVs compete in regions where climate problems are particularly felt, as a platform to give visibility to ecological problems.
Asked about Hamilton’s remarks, Wolff, who already saw Nico Rosberg announce his retirement shortly after winning the 2016 championship for Mercedes, said that he did not think that the Englishman would do the same, or rather, that he would not like that. happen. “If he goes, I think we would have a big move in the driver market. But I think it was something he talked about at this point, with the excitement rising. Because we are very happy and very tired at the same time,” he said the boss of Mercedes.
“With me it’s the same, and I can understand the feeling. When we read the news day and night, everything is related to the difficulties that we all face. And we are in our happy little world, trying to entertain people. But the next day we come back. to reality and it is normal for empathic people to have these feelings. “
The Austrian recalled, however, that Hamilton can decide, like himself, not to stay in F1. “You never know, it happened to Niki Lauda in the 1970s that one day he woke up and realized that he didn’t want to do this anymore. But we didn’t get a chance to sit down and talk about it, we are focused on winning this championship. And we still have time to do that before the first race next year. “
Hamilton can win the Formula 1 championship in the next stage, three races in advance. For that, you only need a simple victory, regardless of Bottas’ result.
