Hamilton Plans Post-F1 Life: Fashion, Cinema Await

Revealing his post-retirement plans, Lewis Hamilton eyes a future in fashion and cinema beyond his F1 career.

The seven-time world champion has had a disappointing start to the 2024 season, being outperformed by teammate George Russell in every qualifying session so far. Additionally, an engine failure at the Australian Grand Prix led the British driver to describe it as the “worst start to a season” he has ever experienced.

After announcing a shock move to Ferrari, Hamilton is far from done with F1 and aims to revive his career by fighting for an eighth world title with the Scuderia. With a multi-year contract at Ferrari, retirement seems a bit more distant for the world champion.

“I’ve gone through this phase of understanding that I can’t race forever. Because when I stop, it will be for good, and I’ll be happy with that.”

“The hardest part is that I want to do everything. I’m very ambitious. But I understand that you can’t do everything – in fact, I take that back because I don’t believe in the word ‘impossible.'”

“To master something, it takes 10,000 hours. Obviously, I’ve done that in racing. We don’t have enough time on the side to master all the different things we love to do. But there are two areas I will definitely pursue: fashion and cinema.”

Hamilton shares that he has spoken repeatedly with other athletes about how to properly retire from a sport.

“I’ve spoken to so many incredible athletes, from Boris Becker to Serena Williams, to Michael Jordan. Talking to the greats I’ve met along the way, who are retired – some are still competing – about the fear of what’s next, the lack of preparation for what’s next. Many of them said, ‘I stopped too early.’ But others said, ‘I stayed too long.'”

“What I don’t want is, when it’s over, to have nothing planned. That my whole world has collapsed because my entire life has been dedicated to this sport. That’s why cinema and fashion, which I am very passionate about, will help mitigate that feeling of collapse. It will be inevitable, despite all my endeavors.”