Never mind Fernando Alonso at 43, Lewis Hamilton says he could still be in Formula 1 “until I’m 50”, the Briton quashing any talk of a “shelf life”.

Hamilton began a new chapter in his Formula 1 career last month when the Briton officially donned the red race suit as a Ferrari Formula 1 driver.

Lewis Hamilton: You can’t compare me to another 40-year-old

Last year the seven-time World Champion announced he would leave Mercedes for Ferrari, F1 2024 marking his 12th and final campaign with the Silver Arrows.

His announcement surprised many in the paddock, including Toto Wolff, as less than six months prior Hamilton had put pen to paper on a new one-plus-one deal only to inform his Mercedes team principal in late January that he had exercised the option to leave after the first year.

Although Wolff was surprised at the time, he admitted months later in the ‘Inside Mercedes F1: Life in the Fast Lane’ book that he knew it was a possibility given they’d only agreed a one-plus-one contract. A contract that Wolff was very much in favour of signing given Hamilton’s age.

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“There’s a reason why we only signed a one-plus-one-year contract,” he said. “We’re in a sport where cognitive sharpness is extremely important, and I believe everyone has a shelf life. So I need to look at the next generation.”

Wolff later clarified that, saying his comment was taken “a little bit out of context” as what he meant was that “all of us, we age, whether it is in being in a car or on a pitch or as a manager or an entrepreneur.”

Hamilton shrugged off Wolff’s comment in an interview with Time Magazine.

“Don’t ever compare me to anybody else,” he said. “I’m the first and only Black driver that’s ever been in this sport. I’m built different. I’ve been through a lot. I’ve had my own journey.

“You can’t compare me to another 40-year-old, past or present, Formula One driver in history. Because they are nothing like me.

“I’m hungry, driven, don’t have a wife and kids. I’m focused on one thing, and that’s winning. That’s my No. 1 priority.”

Such is Hamilton’s disdain for any whispers of a shelf life that he reckons he could be even be around for another decade.

“What I can tell you is, retirement is nowhere on my radar,” he said. “I could be here until I’m 50, who knows.”

This season, in his first year with Ferrari, Hamilton is chasing his record-breaking eighth World title.

The Briton was last involved in a championship fight in F1 2021, his battle with Max Verstappen going down to the wire, with Hamilton losing it on the final lap of the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

“I know exactly where the North Star is,” Hamilton said. “I know where I need to go. I know how to get there. It’s far, and it’s going to be tough to get there, but I know I’ve got all the ingredients, all the people, an amazing team around me.

“So it’s how much you want it. And I can’t express to you how much I want it.”

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