“Still Younger Than Alonso”: F1 Champ Points Out What Will End 38 YO Hamilton’s F1 Career

WAGs, unhealthily delicious food, and chatter in the media are considered as some of the distractions that prove to be obstacles in the lives of Formula 1 racers and athletes, in general. For the first, Lewis Hamilton has had relationship troubles with Nicole Scherzinger in his early days in F1. As for the food part, he came into the Dutch GP weighing a few kilos heavier, courtesy of the summer break. About the noise around him, we don’t think he cares. Even increasing age is considered to put a hamper on performance. But that has been proven wrong by Fernando Alonso. Keeping aside all this, a former F1 champ has given an entirely different reason that could derail the 7x champ’s career.

Hamilton has signed a 2-year, $127 million extension with Mercedes. That means, like his ex-teammate, Fernando Alonso, he’ll be in his 40s during the end of his tenure with the Silver Arrows. Jacques Villeneuve, 1997 World Champion has reason to believe that the Briton’s career, like Alonso’s, will not be dimmed by increasing age and reducing fitness. But a loss in drive could dampen things.

“He’s still younger than Alonso!” exclaimed Villeneuve. “Lewis is not showing his age, it’s like Alonso, it’s all down to how hungry someone is. And how one is willing to still push the envelope, the limit, and how much he’s enjoying the dream he had as a little kid, which was to be a race car driver.”

Then came the reasoning about how and why Hamilton could end his career early. He said, “If that dream goes away, that’s when you start slowing down, not age. Mostly in the modern era where everyone eats better and trains better. So I think that’s pushed the age boundaries quite a lot.”

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Surprisingly, the ex-Williams driver’s statements come right after Alonso issued a very similar one on Hamilton’s future in F1.

Fernando Alonso resonates with Jacques Villeneuve to rubbish the conventional idea of ‘increasing age reduces performance’

In the wake of Lewis Hamilton re-signing with Mercedes, Alonso, considering his experience, was asked about what the 7x champ could expect performance-wise in the future. Using himself as a benchmark, he showed why the Briton will not face a lot of issues.

Alonso said, as quoted by formu1a.uno, “Age can sometimes be a problem with demotivation, or you see that you are no longer at 100% of your performance – or your focus and your concerns are other than F1. Something like that can happen with age and because of the life we ​​have. But in the case of Hamilton, who continues to perform at 100% and his concern is F1 – like in my case – it isn’t a problem.”

F1 fans are going to have a ball watching 2 World Champions competing against each other albeit for P2. Ex-teammates to current foes on the racetrack, it’s been quite a journey.

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