Hamilton gives crucial advice to young drivers

Ahead of his new career step, seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton reckons that young drivers should try to protect themselves from the outer world in the early stages of their careers.

With the 2024 F1 season having come to an end, Lewis Hamilton is nearing his career at Mercedes. Although he is still contracted to the German marque until the end of the season, he only has several PR duties to complete before he makes his official switch to the sport’s most successful team, Ferrari.

The Briton announced his shock departure from Mercedes on the 1st of February. The announcement caught the Formula One community by surprise, as the seven-time world champion was set to race for the Brackley-based outfit until the end of 2025.

However, an exit clause in his contract allowed Hamilton to leave the team in 2025 if he wished, and the Briton elected to terminate his contract at the end of the current season and seek for a new challenge at Ferrari next year.

Hamilton is statistically the most successful driver in the history of Formula One, tied with the great German seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher on the number of world championship titles.

Asked about what he recommends to a young driver who is about to enter the sport, the seven-time world champion advises that they should try to protect themselves from the outer world.

“It’s not about this year. We’re talking about youngsters. We’re talking about 18-year-olds. And I remember when I was 22 and you’re thrown in a deep end. You’ve been given training as a young driver through the younger series, but you’re not most of them. Probably don’t have a PR person.

“The team will have a PR person, but they’re not looking out for you. They’re looking out for the team. And so you’re thrown in the deep end and you’re trying to be nice and people take advantage of you. And so my guidance, like if I had a young driver and I was looking after him, I would put a lot of support around him so that people can get to him.

Hamilton continued: “And the socials and media and stuff would not be able to affect that young individual’s mindset. And I think that protecting that is really important. because then I think it’s really about giving people, firstly, them getting the opportunity and not knocking them down when they make mistakes.

“Which one of you or anyone here, 18 years old, 19 years old, has not made mistakes? And it’s just that when you do it in the spotlight, it’s really, really, really tough. And so we should be lifting these people up and giving them not just one chance, two chances, just continue to support them and just not slating them because that’s just not nice,” concluded Hamilton.