Hamilton wants more working from home and less flying in new Mercedes F1 deal

Lewis Hamilton has revealed he would like the ability to carry out more work from home and reduce the amount of travelling he does in-between races as part of his new Formula 1 contract with Mercedes.

Hamilton is widely expected to sign a new deal to continue racing with Mercedes into next season and beyond after being crowned a seven-time world champion following his latest victory at the Turkish Grand Prix.

Speaking in an interview with the BBC, the 35-year-old Briton made it clear that a bid to make “more time” for himself would be “part of the conversation” in his latest negotiations with a record-breaking 23-round calendar planned for 2021.

“I would love to stay, I want to be here and I still feel young,” Hamilton said. “I still feel energised and I still feel hungry.

“This year’s shown that, for example, you can work from home. So I’m sure there’ll be a lot of Zoom dates in the contract rather than actual present days which means I have to fly less.

“Time with friends and family are the most important,” he added. “If we get to start travelling more [I want to] take my family somewhere and create memories with them and celebrate with them just being around. This year I’ve not been able to see them and that’s just been the hardest.”

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said in Turkey that Hamilton’s new contract might not be finalised until after the 2020 season with a triple-header of events coming up in Bahrain and Abu Dhabi.

Hamilton has also pledged to remain in F1 as part of his other “big fight to win for racial equality and diversity”. Earlier this year, Hamilton announced plans to set up a commission in his name to increase diversity in motorsport.

“You want people to earn the position,” he explained. “No one wants to be handed it, we don’t want to create a position of forcing these teams to just hire people, minorities for the sake of filling a space.

“We want to create an opportunity for those individuals actually who are educated and have earned the right [to be there].

“I want to find out what the real problem is first so we can fix it efficiently. I’m working with the Royal Academy of Engineering in London, we’ve got this incredible commission. Some great people, they’re all academics, some people working on the ground in black communities, some in politics.

“This research that we’re doing is trying to understand why there is a lack of young black kids applying to STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] subjects. What are the barriers?”