Hamilton stays in F1 through his 40th birthday: 'These are my inspirations'

Lewis Hamilton extended his contract at Mercedes on 31 August. So the now 38-year-old Briton will drive in Formula 1 at least until he is 40. The Briton told in Italy who his inspirations are to still be active in Formula 1 at that age.

It was allowed to take a while until Hamilton's contract extension was announced. Team boss Toto Wolff told several times that a deal was close, only it still took a lot longer than expected. Finally, Mercedes announced before the race weekend in Monza that both Hamilton and teammate George Russell have extended their contracts until 2025.

Hamilton's examples

Hamilton will thus be 40 when his contract expires. The Mercedes driver therefore tells which two athletes have inspired him to continue: "I think I look at people like Tom Brady, who's such an incredible athlete and has shown what can be done today, so he's the real role model, in that respect, I think for all athletes to be able to look at, and I'm really, really fortunate that I've been able to speak to him to understand, as well, what he's done, what he does consistently to keep himself in shape and he's expressed it in the media anyways."

Hamilton continued: "And then, yeah, of course it's great seeing Fernando [Alonso]. He was here way before I was and obviously took that retirement and came back and is doing an amazing job. It just shows that your talent never really leaves you. "