{"id":332132,"date":"2025-08-10T03:19:20","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T03:19:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/332132\/"},"modified":"2025-08-10T03:19:20","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T03:19:20","slug":"f1-legend-tells-lewis-hamilton-to-quit-the-sport-before-anything-bad-happens-to-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/332132\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 legend tells Lewis Hamilton to QUIT the sport before ‘anything bad’ happens to him"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bernie Ecclestone today urged Lewis Hamilton<\/a> to quit Formula One immediately, and to get his Ferrari contract paid out in full before \u2018anything bad\u2019 happens to him.<\/p>\n

The advice came as Hamilton\u2019s future is in the balance following a calamitous Hungarian Grand Prix at the weekend.<\/p>\n

After qualifying only 12th while his Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc<\/a> took pole, the seven-time world champion called himself ‘absolutely useless’ and suggested Ferrari should replace him.<\/p>\n

Hamilton stood by those sentiments after finishing 12th on Sunday. Nonetheless, he indicated he would probably return after Formula One\u2019s brief summer break at the Dutch Grand Prix on August 31.<\/p>\n

But Ecclestone, the sport\u2019s godfather, is opposed to Hamilton persevering a race longer.<\/p>\n

\u2018Lewis is very talented, was and probably still is,\u2019 the 94-year-old told Mail Sport from Portugal. \u2018But like a lot of leading sports personalities when they reach the top, there is only one way to go, and it\u2019s not a good direction. It\u2019s only down.<\/p>\n

\"Bernie <\/p>\n

Bernie Ecclestone has urged Lewis Hamilton to quit Formula One immediately<\/p>\n

\"Ecclestone <\/p>\n

Ecclestone says Hamilton should\u00a0get his Ferrari contract paid out in full before \u2018anything bad\u2019 happens to him<\/p>\n

\"According <\/p>\n

According to Ecclestone Hamilton requires a ‘total reset’ having competed in F1 for so long<\/p>\n

\u2018They get tired. Lewis is tired. He\u2019s been doing what he is doing forever. He needs a rest from it for good, a total reset to do something completely different.<\/p>\n

\u2018He may not think it but he will soon get used to doing other stuff away from motor racing in retirement. I think he should have done it a while ago.<\/p>\n

\u2018The guy is not a cheat. But he would be cheating himself if he goes on. He should stop now.<\/p>\n

\u2018If I were looking after him I would negotiate with Ferrari immediately and say, \u201cIf you have someone to replace Lewis, he\u2019ll step aside.\u201d\u2019<\/p>\n

Hamilton is in the first year of a three-year deal with Ferrari worth \u00a360million per annum, since his move from Mercedes in a transfer that electrified Formula One.<\/p>\n

But aged 40, he has struggled to recreate the excellence of his younger days. Without a podium appearances in 14 attempts, he has been out-qualified by Leclerc 10 times and only twice beaten his colleague in grands prix, though he won the sprint race in China with aplomb.<\/p>\n

Ecclestone, who masterminded Formula One for 40 years before Liberty Media bought the business in 2017, spent the weekend at the Budapest race he established behind the Iron Curtain in 1986 and observed Hamilton at close quarters.<\/p>\n

He said: \u2018If I were Lewis, I would say to Ferrari that I wanted to be paid all my contract, in full. They signed him because they thought he could do a job. \u201cIt isn\u2019t working so I can I can make way if you want me to, but that\u2019s the arrangement.<\/p>\n

\"Hamilton\u2019s <\/p>\n

Hamilton\u2019s future is in the balance following a calamitous Hungarian Grand Prix\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Hamilton\u2019s <\/p>\n

Hamilton\u2019s old Mercedes boss Toto Wolff believes his former star driver should continue\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018It could work for both parties.\u2019<\/p>\n

Ecclestone managed two drivers who died racing, Stuart Lewis-Evans, in 1958, and Jochen Rindt, the only posthumous world champion, in 1970. Both tragedies hit him hard.<\/p>\n

Aware of the dangers involved in Formula One, Ecclestone said: \u2019I wouldn\u2019t want anything bad to happen to Lewis. He\u2019s not fighting for a world championship and is at a stage of his life when it wouldn’t be worth him spending two years laid up in bed with a broken back or anything else nasty.<\/p>\n

\u2018He doesn\u2019t need to take the risk any longer. He\u2019s won seven world titles and that is quite enough.\u2019<\/p>\n

As for a replacement, Ecclestone has two suggestions for the hierarchy at Maranello.<\/p>\n

\u2018If I could steal him, I\u2019d take Isack Hadjar from Racing Bulls,\u2019 he said. \u2018He has done super well in his first year and is a great guy.<\/p>\n

\u2018I also rate our friend from Brazil (Sauber\u2019s Gabriel Bortoleto). He is talented. Both of them are sensible, too.\u2019<\/p>\n

However, Hamilton\u2019s old Mercedes boss Toto Wolff believes his former star driver should continue next season, when new a new generation of cars is introduced.<\/p>\n

The Austrian said: \u2018Lewis has unfinished business in Formula One.<\/p>\n

\u2018In the same way Mercedes underperformed in the latest set of regulations since 2022, it hit him. Maybe it is linked to driving style.<\/p>\n

\u2018So he shouldn\u2019t go anywhere next year. It\u2019s brand new cars, which will be completely different to drive, and new power units, so it is absolutely on for Lewis in 2026, and hopefully for many more years.<\/p>\n

\u2018If he has confidence in the car, there is no reason he cannot win an eighth world title.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bernie Ecclestone today urged Lewis Hamilton to quit Formula One immediately, and to get his Ferrari contract paid…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":332133,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4103],"tags":[92,4199,707,4200,19584,998,93,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-332132","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-f1","8":"tag-dailymail","9":"tag-f1","10":"tag-formula-1","11":"tag-formula1","12":"tag-formulaone","13":"tag-lewis-hamilton","14":"tag-sport","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115002315233231587","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332132\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/332133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}