F1 legend Lewis Hamilton ditched private jet 'guilt trip' to 'save the planet'

Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton ditched private jet 'guilt trip' to 'save the planet'

Lewis Hamilton is a seven-time world champion

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Tuesday 24 March 2026 16:56

A former F1 star has revealed the reason why seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton opted to sell his private jet.

Hamilton is the most successful F1 driver in history, and with a reported base salary at Ferrari of $60million, there's no doubt that he could afford to have the luxury of a private jet, as Max Verstappen, Toto Wolff and Fernando Alonso do.

However, the Brit opted to get rid of his private jet in 2019, in an attempt to reduce his carbon footprint and align his lifestyle with more environmentally-friendly values.

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Hamilton is an environmentally conscious individual, and he and Sebastian Vettel used to be the lone voices in that sense on the F1 grid, with Vettel continuing his work even now he has retired from F1.

41-year-old Hamilton is still racing in the sport, however, and was spotted on board Wolff's private jet following the Chinese Grand Prix alongside Valtteri Bottas, George Russell and Susie Wolff.

Now, while explaining how lifts between the drivers are organised during race weekends, former F1 star David Coulthard has explained Hamilton's decision to ditch the private jet that he used between 2013-2019.

"It was candy apple red, but in the interest of saving the planet, he got rid of it," Coulthard told the Up to Speed podcast.

"It doesn't mean that he doesn't fly privately, he just doesn't have the guilt trip of owning his own. I'm not quite sure if that's carbon offsetting or not!"

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F1's carbon neutrality goal

F1 have an ambitious goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2030, and this includes the travel to and from races for drivers and team personnel.

Carbon neutrality is the practice of ensuring there is no net release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and this includes carbon offset practices like planting trees, renewable energy installations or methane capture.

The 2026 regulation changes have helped F1 to try and achieve this goal, ensuring the new F1 cars are releasing fewer emissions by tripling the emphasis on electrical energy within the new power units.

What's more, the internal combustion engine side of the power unit now runs off 100 per cent sustainable fuels, as the sport ditches fossil fuel usage.

F1 2026 Regulations: Every new rule and car change explained

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