Lewis Hamilton not expecting major driver changes in 2021

Lewis Hamilton

Hamilton not expecting major driver changes in 2021

His contract is up after 2020...

Martin Macdonald

Sunday 16 February 2020 10:59

Lewis Hamilton doesn’t believe there will be any significant changes to the driver line-ups of the top Formula 1 teams come the start of the 2021 season, despite Sebastian Vettel and himself having contracts that currently run out after 2020.

At the conclusion of the 2019 season, there was a raft of drivers including Hamilton, Vettel, Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc and Daniel Ricciardo whose future beyond 2020 wasn’t clear.

Now, however, Verstappen and Leclerc have signed extended deals with Red Bull and Ferrari respectively.

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With just Hamilton and Vettel (and Ricciardo with Renault) yet to put pen to paper out of that group, the Brit doesn’t expect much moving around.

“In the top teams there isn’t going to be a lot of movement, most likely,” he told Sky Sports at the launch of Mercedes’ new 2020 contending car.

“In the ones cascading down I’m not too sure what everyone’s contracts are – but I don’t think there’s going to be a huge amount of movement.

“I think just get used to what’s similar at the moment. I don’t know what Seb’s [Vettel] plan is for the future.”

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Hamilton has been strongly linked with a move to Ferrari, but he admits that he enjoys the freedom which is given to him by Mercedes to pursue other interests outwith Formula 1, which he says is important to him.

“It’s not about freedom, it’s about being able to be yourself. People say, ‘you wouldn’t be able to get the freedom here and there’, but I wouldn’t go anywhere where I would be able to be myself,” he insisted.

“When I joined this team, Mercedes embraced that and Toto [Wolff, team boss] could see this is the way I am.

“We have the biggest sponsors, we’ve been winning the most championships and we’ve won the most races. I don’t think there’s a single bad thing about it.”

The 35-year-old has won six world championships and is aiming for his seventh in 2020 which would put him alongside record-holder Michael Schumacher.