Lewis Hamilton unsure over Vietnam addition

Newly crowned five-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton, has stated that he does not really see the point of adding recently announced new venue, Vietnam, to the F1 calendar in 2020.

“It already feels like we are on race 25 this year, so I don’t think that’s a good thing personally,” said Lewis Hamilton. When asked if he had an ideal limit in his mind, he replied, “Not really. Less! I don’t know, probably 18 was the best, back in the day.”

As someone who has driven since he was eight years old, you would think Lewis Hamilton would welcome more races, which would subsequently encourage more youngsters into the sport. He did admit as much but said he needed more personal time and more time to recover.

“I’m someone that really loves racing, but the season is long. It’s a lot of commitment for all of us and a lot of time away from families. The seasons are getting longer and the off-time is getting shorter. As a competitor, all I can speak for is myself – the turnaround is so short,” said Lewis Hamilton.

He then proceeded to hint that he may retire soon so that he would not have to experience an arduous 25-race season. “You start preparing for your next season often as soon as the season is done. That’s very difficult,” he said.

“Then you’ve got to find a way of switching off and recovering at the same time. It’s most likely I’m not going to be here when it gets to 25, that’s for sure.”

The Brit does have a valid point about the season getting longer by the year. This year, a triple-header was tried for the first time to accommodate the current 21-race calendar and if it does go to 25, we would see more of those.

The experiment was not well-received by the crew of many teams, as it involved a ton of travel and was a logistical nightmare to pull off, with hardly a break in between.