Lewis Hamilton, the Mercedes F1 driver, recently signed a two-year contract extension with Mercedes until the end of 2025. While he is going to be around the pinnacle of motor racing for at least two more years, he has admitted during the ongoing Abu Dhabi GP weekend, that he will not retire until the South African GP is back on the F1 calendar.

Lewis Hamilton has raced all over the world in his long Formula 1 career so far, while he’s pretty much covered the whole planet, one of his deepest wishes is to race at least once in South Africa. But at the moment it seems to remain just a dream with issues with the track owners and F1. Hamilton on several past occasions has talked about his South African GP desire.

That is such a dream for me. I want to stay till they get the race back.

The 38-year-old absolutely loves the people of the African nation and feels that it would be great to host a race in the county in the upcoming years. But, keeping in view how quickly new tracks are emerging in F1, it is hard to say whether it would be a possibility in the upcoming years or not.

Lewis saying he won’t retire until SA are on the race calendar. 🙏🏻 #TeamLH pic.twitter.com/w6uN3Vnjl6

— JMiragliotta (@Jmiragliotta89) November 25, 2023

Moreover, in order to stage an F1 event, the organizers are expected to dish out a lot of money and that is not possible for all the motorsports circuits. South Africa’s Kayami circuit is the one where an F1 Grand Prix weekend could take place if the sport’s hierarchy decides to take to Africa in the coming years.

Lewis Hamilton is in the dusk of his career

While Lewis Hamilton has talked about his desire to race in South Africa, one has to wonder whether Hamilton would still be around F1 by the time the South African GP does become a reality. The former 7-time world champion is already 38-year-old and no one knows whether his body would allow him to continue racing after 2025.

Lewis Hamilton (Credits: Planet F1)

Hamilton is undoubtedly one of the best drivers in the history of Formula 1. He has been racing at the top level for a very long time and despite the evolution of the sport, has been able to keep up with the young guns like, George Russell, Max Verstappen, and, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

Don’t ever forget your power. Don’t ever forget your purpose. Don’t ever forget that I’m rooting for you. pic.twitter.com/yKHdD3BUPa

— Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) October 14, 2022

Lewis Hamilton has a huge fan following all over the world, and South Africa is no different. The people, there are extremely fond of Hamilton and thus in order to show his gratitude, Hamilton wants to spread smiles by taking F1 to the African nation. However, it is hard to put a timeline on it.