Lewis Hamilton names condition that has to be met before F1 retirement

Lewis Hamilton is entering the twilight years of his F1 career, although there is one condition that could keep him from retiring.

Lewis Hamilton has claimed that he won’t call time on his F1 career until he helps get the South African Grand Prix back on the calendar. The sport had considered a return to Kyalami as early as next season but these plans have yet to materialise.

F1 is marketed as and presented as a ‘World Championship’, but the 2023 and 2024 calendars both fail to reach across all of the inhabited continents. The glaring omission is Africa – the sport hasn’t raced there since Alain Prost claimed victory for Williams at Kyalami in 1993.

For more than eight years, Hamilton has pushed to reinstate the Kyalami circuit on the Formula One schedule. “I would love for it to be in South Africa,” he said to the BBC in 2015. They are just automobile enthusiasts and avid sports fans. It would be completely insane, but I would really love to go there.

“We should add one of the most significant Grands Prix to the schedule because it has a sizable fan base. For the first time in this sport, black South Africans have someone to identify with. Being in the forefront of that makes me feel tremendously fortunate.”

Ahead of this weekend’s season finale, Hamilton reaffirmed his desire to race in South Africa, demonstrating his commitment to the vision of bringing Formula One back to the African continent despite the enormous success he has experienced in his career since making those remarks.

“I’m working in the background to get South Africa on the race,” Hamilton said to cheering fans prior to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. I see that as something out of a dream. I must remain until they obtain that race.

Also endorsing the seven-time world champion is F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali. He said earlier this year: “I think that one area that we want to develop is the African area. There are areas of the world that want to have Formula One.” That’s an area where we are lacking as a world champion team.

But the political atmosphere in the nation is making a comeback for Formula One difficult. The government’s ties to Russia, which themselves lost their spot on the calendar as a result of the invasion of Ukraine, have been especially problematic. It’s still a complicated deal to bring back Grand Prix racing to Kyalami until these ties are cut.