LEWIS HAMILTON’s desire to continue racing in F1 has been questioned by Sebastian Vettel.
Hamilton heads into this weekend’s Azerbaijan GP a whopping 75 points adrift of championship leader Max Verstappen.
Lewis Hamilton is in Baku ahead of the Azerbaijan GP
The seven-time world champion has endured a miserable start to the season where he has been out-scored by his new teammate George Russell at Mercedes.
And while Hamilton is now facing the prospect of going a whole season without a single win – something he has never had in his 16-year F1 career – Vettel says slugging around in the midfield will undoubtedly lead to him to ponder if he wants to continue.
Vettel said: “When you get to know the sport in the way I have done, and Lewis has done, winning and being at the top is what you strive for.
“Does it excite you to finish eighth, or 12th or 13th? No it doesn’t, when you know you have been first so many times – and in Lewis’ case more than any other guy.
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“George comes in. He spent three years at Williams suffering to death at the rear of the field, scoring the odd point, and then suddenly he is eighth or 12th and life for him is amazing.
“Everybody is different, but you need to be fair from the outside and say, look, is Lewis naturally going to be as fired up about finishing eighth as George probably is? No, and I would be surprised if he was.”
Meanwhile, Vettel, 34, says he has not yet decided if he wants to quit F1 at the end of this season.
The Aston Martin driver added: “I have done motor racing for my whole life and it gives you security, in terms of the schedule being made by other people.
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“I don’t know what life after Formula One looks like and I don’t think any sportsperson knows what the next life looks like.
“I enjoy driving the car but there are other things I don’t like.
“After so many years the usual stuff comes up that you don’t understand at the beginning, like the travel.
“It is very time consuming and I have kids at home and a family so it equals time away from them.
“The future depends on this year and the races that I have coming up. I have not decided yet. The summer is the usual time when you start to talk so we will see.”
