After signing an agreement to continue racing into his 40s, seven-time Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton cited seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady as a role model for sports longevity.
Brady, now 46, played as an NFL quarterback for 23 years before retiring in February.
“I look at people like Tom Brady, who is such an incredible athlete and has shown what can be done today, so I think he’s the real role model in that respect for all athletes to be able to look at,” Hamilton said at the Italian Grand Prix.
“I’m really, really lucky that I’ve been able to speak with him and understand what he’s done and what he does consistently to stay in shape, and he’s expressed it in the media anyway.”
Hamilton cited two-time world champion Fernando Alonso, his McLaren teammate during his first season in 2007.
The Spaniard is still racing for Aston Martin aged 42 and is still competitive, finishing second in the Dutch Grand Prix last weekend. After leaving McLaren in 2018, he took a two-year hiatus before rejoining Alpine in 2021.
“He was here way before I was, took that retirement, came back, and is doing an amazing job,” Hamilton added.
“It just goes to show that your talent never really leaves you as long as you have that passion and that commitment.”
Hamilton stated that he still had ‘unfinished business,’ but that it had nothing to do with the contentious 2021 season, in which he missed out on a record due to a late change in safety car protocols in Abu Dhabi.
That race gave Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who would go on to become a treble champion, his first title.
“The unfinished business is getting back to the top, it’s getting back and fighting for world championships,” Hamilton added.
“The last few years have been difficult.
“On the 2021 thing, I’m not really a revenge person, and it’s not about revenge,” Hamilton continued. “This isn’t about redemption.” That is history, and there is nothing you can do about it.”
Hamilton also stated that his racing engineer, Peter ‘Bono’ Bonnington, would continue to work with him.
“I’m very fortunate, and that’s similar to history,” he remarked. “I don’t think there’s ever been an engineer-driver pairing that’s lasted this long.”