Lewis Hamilton retirement timeline laid out as Ferrari frustrations laid bare

Sky Sports F1 presenter Simon Lazenby believes that Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso could both retire from the sport at the end of the 2026 season if their new cars are not competitive enough. Next year marks the first under the new technical regulations, which promise to shake up the pecking order and give new faces a chance to compete for the World Championships.

Among the hopefuls are two F1 veterans, Hamilton and Alonso, fighting to return to Drivers' Championship contention, years after their most recent tastes of glory. In Hamilton's case, retirement fears have been floated since his worrying interviews at the Hungarian Grand Prix before the summer break. The seven-time world champion, who has not scored a podium finish since swapping Mercedes for Ferrari, described himself as "absolutely useless" and told his team to "change driver" if they want better results.

"With Lewis, he's just in one of those difficult moments in his career," Lazenby told Metro. "If you ever thought moving from a difficult Mercedes to a Ferrari team was going to be easy, it wasn't.

"He's up against the darling of Ferrari in Charles Leclerc. He's been there for a long while now and he's also a mega quick driver. Lewis said that he's been writing all these notes, and he wants to steer it a little bit towards what he wants in 2026.

"Lewis and Fernando Alonso are obviously near the end of their careers, and they sniff that 2026 is their chance. If they get it, great. If they don't, are they going to stick around? I don't know. I think 2026 will either be the last season for Lewis and Fernando, or if they see they've got a winning car, they might want to sign on for a bit longer."

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Hamilton was asked about his comments in Hungary ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix, which will usher in the final stretch of the 2025 campaign on Sunday. The Brit brushed off concerns about his morale and pointed to a refreshing summer break to explain his mental turnaround.

"Firstly, in the heat of the moment, that can happen to anyone," he explained. "It's obviously not truly how I feel. "[During the break] I've just been with family, with my niece and nephew, with Roscoe, and it's been great.

"I've enjoyed being away and to unplug, then just bring myself back to my core. That's how I've always done it. Lots of meditation, finding gratitude in every single day and just realigning yourself to your core beliefs. They've always been there, and I will use those moving forward."