Hamilton fears young drivers are sacrificing their education

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Lewis Hamilton says he is worried that up-and-coming young drivers are so focussed on achieving success in motorsport that they are sacrificing their education to do so.

"A lot of kids that are racing don't have an education, or don't get an education," the five-time world champion told Motorsport.com this week.

"Parents take the kids out of school to focus on trying to get that ultimate. And then when it doesn't happen you fall flat on your back.

"Obviously winning a championship is a great thing," he acknowledged. "[But with an education] even if they don't make it to Formula 1 or as another racing driver, they can be an engineer.

"There are thousands of people within these teams. There are so many opportunities within all these organisations. So that's something I want to get involved in."

Hamilton focused on delivering Mercedes' fifth consecutive title

Hamilton's comments came as he started to reflect on his own achievements in motorsport, and the legacy he will leave behind him when he eventually retires and moves on.

He said he knows that he is "always going to be remembered as a racing driver" but he says that he is determined to do something even greater with the success he's achieved on the track.

"If I want to be remembered for anything it's by building a school," he suggested. "Whether it's encouraging education, whether it's just helping people get through difficult times."

Hamilton added that he planned to discuss what could be done to achieve that aim with FIA president Jean Todt in the near future.

"Hopefully I'm going to meet with Jean at some stage," he confirmed. "I feel there is some positive impact that we can have on young kids that are at school.

"I've always been one to want to have some positive impact. I don't want to be just taking, taking, taking.

"I want to be doing some positive things for the future," he continued. "I just want to keep on driving hard and keep encouraging kids.

"This great sport, and this great opportunity that I have had, has created a great foundation and an opportunity for me to do other things.

"Naturally, I don't want my time on Earth to mean nothing," he added.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.