Mercedes star Sir Lewis Hamilton thinking about life after Formula 1

Hamilton caused a major stir in Formula 1 earlier this season when he announced he would be leaving Mercedes to drive for Ferrari in 2025.

However, there has been plenty of talk about when Hamilton might retire from the sport with some even suggesting he was going to do so at the end of the 2022 and 2023 season.

The Brit has won the Formula 1 Driver's championship seven times, tied for the most with Michael Schumacher, but it looks increasingly unlikely he will be able to break the record due to Max Verstappen's continued dominance of the sport.

He admits he can struggle for motivation sometimes and needs to find ways to keep his mind in the game.

“When I first got into Formula 1, it was wake up, train, racing-racing-racing-racing, nothing else,” Hamilton told GQ in an interview.

“There’s no space for anything else. But what I realised is that just working all the time doesn’t bring you happiness, and you need to find a balance in life. And I found out that I was actually quite unhappy.

“There was so much missing, there was so much more to me. And it was crazy, because I was like: I’m in Formula 1, I reached my dream, and I’m where I always wanted to be, I’m on top, I’m fighting for the championship. But I was just not – it was not enjoyable.

“It’s almost like being in a snowglobe – that’s the racing world. And there’s so much more outside of it that you just don’t have time to explore. I think if you go to an office every day and do the same process every single day, eventually you just zone out. You have to find something else that can soothe you, can keep your mind going.”

Hamilton also revealed that conversation with retired professional athletes taught him that he needed to have a plan for life after Formula 1 before retiring.

“I’d spoken to so many amazing athletes, from Boris Becker to Serena Williams, even Michael Jordan,” he commented. “Talking to greats that I’ve met along the way, who are retired – or some that are still in competition – and the fear of what’s next, the lack of preparation for what’s next.

“A lot of them said: ‘I stopped too early.’ Or: ‘Stayed too long’. ‘When it ended, I didn’t have anything planned’. ‘My whole world came crashing down because my whole life has been about that sport’.

“Some of them were like: ‘I didn’t plan and it was a bit of a mess-up because I was really lost afterwards. There was such a hole. Such a void. And I had no idea how I was going to fill it. And I was in such a rush initially to try and fill it that you fill it with the wrong thing. And you make a few mistakes. And then eventually you find your way’.

“Some people took longer. Some people took shorter. But it just got my mind thinking about: OK, when I stop, how do I avoid that? And so I got serious about finding other things that I was passionate about.”