Formula 1 CEO Chase Carey admits he hopes “hero” Lewis Hamilton could “race forever” in the sport.
The six-time world champion has undoubtedly grown into the star of this current era, bursting onto the scene and winning his first world title at McLaren before adding five in the past six years at Mercedes.
His appeal also transcends F1, something that can’t be said of many other drivers on the grid and the Liberty Media chief knows finding a new face will be a challenge.
“First, I hope Lewis races forever! He’s obviously an incredible champion,” Carey declared via Autosport. “His success speaks for itself and our sport’s built on heroes.
“He’s a hero second to none in our sport.
“Again, we hope he’ll race forever. He probably won’t! But I think he’s got some challenges still ahead of him, and we’d like to see him tackle those.”
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FIA president Jean Todt agreed about Hamilton’s success, but also pointed to how big names have always eventually been succeeded.
“It’s fantastic to have a personality and a talent like Lewis,” said the Frenchman. “But it’s part of the history of motorsport, and every decade, you have some special talents.
“Before Lewis, you had Michael [Schumacher], you started with [Juan Manuel] Fangio, [Jim] Clark, [Jackie] Stewart.
“There has always been some amazing talents and one day, Lewis will go and some new talents will have been confirmed.
“Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, the newcomers – the car will help them but drivers like Lando Norris, like George Russell and Pierre Gasly, they are very talented drivers.
“That will be the Lewis of the new generation.”
Indeed, 2019 was seen as the breakout year for the next era of stars and the F1 CEO accredited that on the renewed focus on strengthening the junior categories.
“I can’t think of the year that has had a more exciting breadth and depth of young drivers coming into the sport,” he said.
“We’ve got an incredible, exciting future with those drivers, I hope they get a chance to the battle with Lewis.
“When we came in, there was GP2, Formula 3, GP3, we had sort of fragmented, not well-coordinated, races feeding into Formula 1.
“We tried to create a more proper pyramid and we want to try and strengthen that pyramid and make sure it provides opportunities for young drivers to emerge, to become champions, to continue to compete.”