Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton has unravelled the notes he took from his conversations with Boris Becker, Serena Williams, and Michael Jordan about his life after F1.

Hamilton began his motorsports journey in 2007, fielding an open-wheel car for McLaren. The year after Hamilton’s rookie season, saw him seal the 2008 F1 world championship. Six years after running with McLaren, the Brit joined forces with Mercedes in 2013 and his career skyrocketed from there.

With Silver Arrows, Lewis Hamilton won six driver titles, with the first championship for the German outfit coming in 2014. However, as his 18th season gets done and dusted, the 39-year-old will mark his move to the third team in his Formula 1 career – The Scuderia Ferrari.

Amid his final season with Toto Wolff, the Brit came across a situation in which nearly all professional athletes find themselves. He was asked about his future after retiring from sport.

During an interview with GQ, Lewis Hamilton revealed the learning he imbibed about “what’s next” from the most prominent athletes on the roster.

“I’d spoken to so many amazing athletes, from Boris Becker to Serena Williams, even Michael Jordan. Talking to greats that I’ve met along the way, who are retired—or some that are still in competition—and the fear of what’s next, the lack of preparation for what’s next.”
He added:

“A lot of them said: ‘I stopped too early.’ Or: ‘Stayed too long.’ ‘When it ended, I didn’t have anything planned.’ ‘My whole world came crashing down because my whole life has been about that sport.’ ”
“When I stop, how do I avoid that? And so I got serious about finding other things that I was passionate about,” Lewis Hamilton continued.
Lewis Hamilton reflects on the hurtful 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix result
The #44 driver was battling for his eighth title whereas Max Verstappen fought for his first F1 championship. The Brit was in charge during the closing laps but Nicholas Latifi’s crash prompted the Safety Car. From there, the turnaround of events happened.

Lewis Hamilton led the pack in the safety car, while Verstappen was in the sixth car behind the leader. However, the then race director, Michael Masi’s controversial decision allowed five cars between the championship contenders to unlap themselves. It meant that Verstappen was right behind Hamilton, and that too with fresh soft tires.

On turn 5 of lap 57, the Dutchman blazed past Hamilton in his RB16B, clinching his first-ever Formula 1 world championship title. While reflecting on his “robbed” 2021 season, the Brit said (via GP blog):

“Was I robbed? Obviously. I mean, you know the story. But I think what was really beautiful in that moment, was my dad was with me. And we’d gone through this huge roller coaster of life together, ups and downs. And the day that it hurt the most, he was there.”
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