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The seven-time champion, Lewis Hamilton will be taking part in his 300th Formula 1 Grand Prix this weekend amid continuously increasing retirement rumours. However, Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff has expressed his opinion on the British racer's retirement plans.
Mercedes F1 team CEO has believed that Hamilton can break the world record of starting the most races which is currently held by Kimi Raikkonen with 350 starts. The British racer will be joining F1 legends Fernando Alonso, Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher in starting 300 F1 races this weekend.
The current Mercedes deal of Hamilton expires at the end of the 2023 season but the Team Principal has a different opinion regarding the 37-year-old racer's future with the club.
Toto said, "We talked a few weeks ago about how long a partnership can go and the figure discussed was about five to 10 years, so I think we can go to 400 [races]. Someone said you have to win the eighth [world title], so why not 10?"
However, Hamilton had earlier hinted to retire at the end of his current deal as he don't want to stretch his career till the age of 40.
Hamilton explained, "When I'm 38 there's going to be a point in which I'm going to want to move on to do different things. I guess it just always comes down to how I never do anything half a***d so I'm not going to do it at 80 per cent, 70 per cent and just trundle along. There are people that can do that but I'm only here to win."
"If there's ever a point that I feel that I don't want to commit the time or the effort, the mental time and energy that it takes, that will be the time for me to stop. I don't plan to be here till I'm 40. I hope I have something else exciting to do beyond but regardless, no matter what time I stop, I'm going to miss this sport," he concluded.
