Lewis Hamilton has joked about how Fernando Alonso\u2019s age could determine the point at which he decides to call time on his own F1 career.<\/p>\n
Now in his forties, Hamilton is one of F1\u2019s elder statesmen, but has poured cold water on any speculation that he could retire from F1 any time soon.<\/p>\n
Lewis Hamilton \u2018not planning on stopping anytime soon\u2019<\/p>\n
Taking on a fresh challenge for F1 2025 after more than a decade at Mercedes, Hamilton\u2019s switch to Ferrari coincided with his 40th birthday.<\/p>\n
Aiming to deliver the Scuderia its first Drivers\u2019 World Championship since Kimi Raikkonen\u2019s success in 2007, Hamilton is attempting to upset the history books in more ways than one.<\/p>\n
Not only is he targeting a record-breaking eighth title, but he would be the first driver since Jack Brabham in 1966 to achieve a title after reaching 40 years of age. Winning the title this, or next, year would make Hamilton the third-oldest World Champion in F1 history, with Giuseppe Farina and Juan Manuel Fangio 43 and 46 years old, respectively, at the time of their last titles.<\/p>\n
But Hamilton has had a difficult start to life at Ferrari<\/a>, although there have been recent indications that the seven-time F1 World Champion is starting to get to grips with the SF-25 and with embedding himself in the Scuderia.<\/p>\n Aside from his Sprint race victory in China, Hamilton is yet to stand on the podium while wearing red, and all sorts of speculation has been floated around about the British driver\u2019s enthusiasm for F1 \u2013 in the final years of a career filled with success, just how hungry is he?<\/p>\n The rumours include the presentation of theories that Hamilton could call time on his F1 career well before the end of his current contract with Ferrari, perhaps even at the end of this year, but Hamilton has firmly refuted any idea that he could walk away.<\/p>\n \u201cI have no intention of stopping anytime soon,\u201d Hamilton told French magazine L\u2019Equipe.<\/p>\n With fellow F1 World Champion Fernando Alonso still on the grid and competitive at 44 years old \u2013 another driver aiming to add to his title tally \u2013 Hamilton joked that his own career longevity could be tied into his former teammate\u2019s age.<\/p>\n \u201cI really appreciate that Fernando Alonso is continuing, because it means he\u2019s older than me. I\u2019ll keep going until he\u2019s 50!\u201d<\/p>\n Hamilton\u2019s clarification on this comes just days after former F1 chairman Bernie Ecclestone opined that the Ferrari driver needs to call time on his career after 19 years, for the sake of his legacy.<\/p>\n \u201cHe should stop,\u201d Ecclestone said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe danger is that \u2013 if he continues for another year or a year and a half and hasn\u2019t gotten better by then \u2013 people will forget him and his achievements.\u201d<\/p>\n Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc head-to-head<\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates<\/a><\/p>\n