Lewis Hamilton vows to be a “positive” voice for Formula 1’s future drivers after he retires.
The seven-time world champion has often come under fire from past generations of F1 drivers during his career with some even including racial slurs in their comments.
After one such example involving Nelson Piquet Sr. prior to the British Grand Prix, Hamilton questioned “why we are continuing to give these older voices a platform?”.
But once he becomes one of those said “older voices”, the Mercedes driver promises to use his for good.
“I’ll always be tapped into this sport, I’ll always be watching,” Hamilton was quoted as telling ViaPlay.
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“I’ll always want to be someone that’s being positive to whichever drivers that are here, good or bad, because you know how difficult it is to start, and how it can suck and how days can be good and how people can be negative about you.
“I don’t ever want to be one of those drivers that does that because we’ve experienced that.”
At 37, Hamilton is now the second oldest driver in F1 after Fernando Alonso and is out of contract at Mercedes at the end of 2023.
But, he insists retirement is still a long way off, despite often being asked about it.
“I mean look for years we’ve been going around, up and down with stories of retirement and stopping,” he said.
“For me, I feel healthier than I’ve ever felt as I focus a lot on that. I am feeling fit. I love what I am doing and I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon.
“My goal always was to be with Mercedes, I signed with them in 1997. I love that we have the long partnership we have.
“I feel like we are embarking on a lot of positive things, not only in the sport but outside and I think there’s a lot to accomplish together. I want to be part of that.
“I think I will always be with Mercedes until the day I die. I feel like I can race for quite a bit longer so I will be potentially steering towards that.”
