Formula 1: No reason for Lewis Hamilton to leave Mercedes after 2020

While speculation begins to heat up about the futures of Formula 1’s top drivers, there is still no reason for Lewis Hamilton to leave Mercedes after the 2020 season.

While there is speculation surrounding the futures of several of the drivers for Formula 1‘s three top-tier teams, including Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport’s Valtteri Bottas, Scuderia Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull Racing’s Pierre Gasly and even some about Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen, one driver has no reason to panic.

Lewis Hamilton has been driving for Mercedes since the 2013 season, and last July, he signed a two-year contract extension to continue driving for the team through the 2020 season.

The 34-year-old Briton has no reason to leave the Brackley-based team following the 2020 season if he has any say in the matter — and let’s face it, he has more than just a say in the matter.

George Russell, Esteban Ocon, heck, even Verstappen — you name the driver. Unless Hamilton suddenly starts failing to win races and is no longer a championship contender, Mercedes are not going to replace him with anybody unless he feels as though it is time for him to leave the team.

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And he has absolutely no reason to feel that way.

Mercedes have been dominant since the V6 turbo hybrid era began in the 2014 season, winning all five driver championships (four by Hamilton) and all five constructor championships, and right now, they are as strong as they have ever been.

The Silver Arrows have won eight consecutive races going back to last season, and Hamilton has won six of these eight races, including four of the 2019 season’s first six races.

Hamilton is also chasing down two all-time Formula 1 records held by the legendary Michael Schumacher, perhaps the two most important records in the sport, whether he wants to admit it or not.

Schumacher earned an all-time record 91 victories in his Formula 1 career, and he also won an all all-time record seven championships. Hamilton, meanwhile, sits in second place on the all-time Formula 1 wins list with 77 victories, and he sits tied for second on the all-time Formula 1 championships list with Juan Manuel Fangio with five titles.

With 15 victories since the start of last season and four championships in the last five seasons, there is no sense trying to avoid the obvious — Hamilton is on pace to not only tie but break both of these records.

Would he really even consider leaving Mercedes after the 2020 season, at which point he will likely have won more than 91 races, as a seven-time champion if they are still the dominant team in Formula 1 and would give him a great chance to become the sport’s first eight-time champion?

He would be silly to.

Even Hamilton has stated that he is wary of retiring early despite the fact that he has previously stated that the 2020 season may be his final season in Formula 1. Here is what he had to say about the matter, according to Yahoo.

"“Michael retired when he was 38. I’m 33. In my mind I can definitely do five years. I am ridiculously determined to win. What really drives me, and I feel that somewhat the people I race against may lack, is that fire. I’ve got this opportunity. I could easily let go of it right now but I feel like I would be squandering it if I didn’t continue to improve, grow and push.“I’ve got to keep going for as long as I can basically – until I’m not enjoying it. It’s a hard, hard year. Mentally you have these massive highs, wins and success, but then you have these massive comedowns.“[It’s] something I’ve never really spoken about but you often do suffer from mental issues – instabilities – and keeping yourself together when you hit rock bottom, which you do as an athlete. If you’re lucky you can find strength at rock bottom. It’s about how you get up, not how you fall.”"

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Will Lewis Hamilton still be competing in Formula 1 in the 2021 season? If so, will he be doing so in his ninth season driving for Mercedes? At this point, there is no reason for the answers to either of these questions to be “no”, especially when it comes to Hamilton’s say in the matter and the pace that he is on.

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