F0rmula 1 sporting boss Ross Brawn believes it is possible Lewis Hamilton will seek a new challenge for the 2021 world championship season and beyond.
Hamilton, the new six-time F1 world champion, says he wants to stay in the top flight beyond the end of his 2020 Mercedes contract. But both he and his team boss Toto Wolff have admitted that the negotiations should be interesting.
“In this next year there will be a lot going on with drivers switching, drivers talking to various teams,” Hamilton said this week.
The 34-year-old is now tantalisingly close to matching Michael Schumacher’s all-time record of seven world championships.
Hamilton admits he is still motivated by titles, “Of course I’m looking for more titles. Next year will be closer than ever, and that turns me on. I think in life you can dream and have aspirations for the future, but it’s also important to live in the moment.”
Brawn, suggested to the Daily Mail newspaper that the never-ending talk of a potential Ferrari switch for Hamilton might have some substance, “Lewis may decide he wants a new challenge – he might go to another team and help that team succeed. How many titles is enough?”
“His competitiveness is astonishing. If he hasn’t won he is grumpy as hell. It is a nice thing to have. He is built to win, that is all he knows and all he wants to do. The circumstances don’t matter. He won the championship at the weekend but not the race and he was grumpy he didn’t win the race!
“When you look at someone like Lewis, you have to have huge self-motivation every day to go to the gym, to fit it in. He never displayed any weakness in that respect. At the end of the race, he was always as fresh as at the start
“When a driver as strong as Lewis gets in the right team, it is the potential for domination and I don’t see it ending. He drives himself in all the essential elements to be the best racing driver of the last 10 or 20 years,” added Brawn.
Big Question: Why would Lewis leave Mercedes?