Hamilton calls for FIA talks over young drivers' education

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton has admitted his fear that young drivers risk compromising their education and says he intends to talk with FIA president Jean Todt about this.

Hamilton wishes to help aspiring F1 drivers who drop out of school to increase their chances of making it in motorsport.

The Mercedes star admitted he understands the impression of overwhelmingness that an F1 driver can make on a youngster, saying that he still gets it whenever he meets childhood heroes such as Mike Hakkinen and David Coulthard.

"I just want to keep on driving hard and keep encouraging kids," Hamilton explained to Motorsport. "Hopefully I'm going to meet with Jean at some stage, because I feel there is some positive impact that we can have on young kids that are at school.

"A lot of kids that are racing don't have an education or don't get an education or don't get an education. Parents take the kids out of school to focus on trying to get that ultimate and then when it doesn't happen you fall flat on your back.

"Obviously winning a championship is a great thing, but hopefully I can work on that with Jean, so that with these kids, even if they don't make it to Formula 1, or as another racing driver, they can be an engineer.

"There are thousands of people within these teams, there are so many opportunities within all these organisations, so that's something I want to get involved in."