Defending world champion Lewis Hamilton is statistically one of the greatest ever F1 drivers. He is on the verge of becoming the most prolific champion ever if he can capture an eighth title this year. There has been some speculation over the last few years that Hamilton might be considering retirement in a few years’ time. F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has now analyzed how Formula 1 will be affected when this does happen.

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0:00 - Domenicali Explains If F1 Is Ready For Hamilton’s Retirement
1:52 - Fast Feed

I'm your host Dillon Shelley and first up on Formula World:

Domenicali Explains If F1 Is Ready For Hamilton’s Retirement

Domenicali began by suggesting that Lewis will be around in 2022

“F1 is solid, robust and whatever Lewis’ decision will be, F1 will react and move forward. The good news is that if Lewis, as we all hope, stays, he will have an incredible season in front of him [2022] with the new cars, with a new challenge, and this may be very interesting for him”

He then looked at what would happen when Lewis does retire

“If he decides a different way around, the good news is that in F1 we have so many good drivers today that at least the challenge, the chances, will be even stronger”

He acknowledged Lewis’ hand in the rising popularity of F1

“For sure, Lewis is a great asset, he is doing an incredible job on the sporting side in terms of image. He was able to grow F1 in other areas which were not really specifically related to F1”

He, however, reiterated that F1 is strong and that drivers retiring is just a part of the sport

“But F1 itself is strong, and drivers and champions are always in a place where one day they may retire”

He signed off by confirming that Lewis is yet undecided about when he will retire and that he is currently focused on winning an eighth title

“I don’t know what Lewis is doing, we are talking with him, but of course now he is focused on his actual season. He is fully boosted to make sure he will be the only driver that is going to win eight titles in the history of F1”


Fast Feed

Andrew Westacott, head of the Australian Grand Prix has confirmed that they “are working very closely with the government on every aspect of the COVID safety plans”

He also wants “to concentrate on delivering a race here in Melbourne. It's [their] job to make that successful”

What Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, however, “would note is it’s very different coming to Australia as most of the countries [Formula 1 is] moving around in, Covid’s riddled through those countries, Australia is not riddled with Covid”

Pirelli have pointed out that “Monaco is not only the shortest lap of the year with the lowest average speed, but it also has the slowest corner of the year”

As such “the softest Pirelli compound in the range called the ‘C5’ makes its Grand Prix debut in 2021” at Monaco

McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo feels that “the proper old school [liveries] would be pretty awesome. A lot of teams have had awesome and unique liveries over the years”

Which is why “it would be cool if everyone came up with their own” like McLaren are doing at Monaco

McLaren CEO Zak Brown thinks that it “is great for the sport and it's good that [Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen] are competing against each other”

He also thinks that “it's great for Formula 1. Lewis has had it pretty easy, apart from his one year with Nico [Rosberg]”

He further feels that “Max has got Lewis to go the extra mile”

He also suggested that “it's only a matter of time until they're both determined not to go sideways in turn one and not get out of it either”

Williams’ driver George Russell feels that “it was a shame to miss the race last year due to the reshuffled calendar as it’s one of the most exhilarating and thrilling laps of the season”

“It will be great to be back, and [he] can’t wait to get on track and have the overall Monaco experience”

“It’s also going to be a huge weekend for the team as [they] mark [their] 750th race, which is an incredible achievement and something [Russell is] proud to be part of”

Retired F1 driver Ralf Schumacher thinks that Haas’ “Mick [Schumacher] has done everything right so far. But we have to be patient, his car isn't getting any better”

He further suggested that “it will be very important for Mick to go into the weekend carefully and not have any accidents”

“If he keeps his style there and improves steadily over the course of the weekend, then he could even cause a surprise”

What he is also “particularly pleased about is that the annoying problem of track limits won't be there in Monaco”

“Because if you think you have to overdo it there, you quickly end up with a broken car. The big challenge of Monaco is not to make a mistake”


Will the Australia Grand Prix be cancelled this season?