F1 star Lewis Hamilton's team WITHDRAW from racing with immediate effect

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Las Vegas, 2023 — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 Off the Track

Hamilton team WITHDRAW from racing with immediate effect

The seven-time world champion may be seeking another new venture

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Sunday 11 February 2024 14:59 Updated: 06:21

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Seven-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton's Extreme E racing team have decided that they will not compete in the fourth and final season of the all-electric series.

The X44 team - whose name is taken from owner Hamilton's race number - have competed in the sport since its inception back in 2021, and managed to claim the championship in 2022.

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Extreme E's aim was to raise awareness of climate change while hosting off-road races with electric SUVs, becoming a big player amongst many other motorsport series in recent years.

However, it has recently been announced that the series will be discontinued, with a hydrogen-powered series taking its place instead. That means that the 2024 season will be the final year of a championship that has received substantial backing from the FIA.

Lewis Hamilton's Extreme E team are going to fold ahead of the final Extreme E season

Lewis Hamilton is to team up with Ferrari in 2025, to pursue an eighth F1 world title

Hamilton not chasing another title

Despite this, Hamilton's team have decided not to attempt to claim another championship, after their 2022 success with Sebastien Loeb and Cristina Gutierrez at the wheel, and instead pull out of the sport one season early.

For several years, X44 went head-to-head with two of Hamilton's former team-mates, with both Nico Rosberg and Jenson Button also owning Extreme E teams.

In a statement confirming their departure from the series, X44 explained: “We’ve had an incredible three seasons competing as X44, winning multiple races and even a world championship.

"Thank you to our drivers Cristina, Fraser and Seb, and all our talented team-mates who worked hard to help us achieve everything we did.

"Even more than the results on track, we’re proud to have been part of a bigger conversation about how to make motorsport more sustainable, of our success in giving people from all kinds of backgrounds an opportunity to thrive in this team, and of the legacy our team owner Lewis will leave behind with the Racing for All programme."

The new series that will replace Extreme E is to be called Extreme H, and will feature SUVs powered by hydrogen, another sustainable solution which may feature more heavily across motorsport in years to come.

"Although we won’t be competing ourselves in 2024, we’ll be cheering on the series from the sidelines and keeping an eye on the exciting developments at Extreme H," X44 concluded.

Lewis Hamilton