Hamilton - "Billionaire boys club" F1 inaccessible to "working-class" drivers

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton has labelled F1 a "billionaire boys club" and one which he feels he would now be unable to break into as a young talent.

Hamilton was raised on a council estate in Stevenage with father Anthony working numerous jobs simply to fund the future F1 champion's junior racing career.

The divide between those with money and those without has always been evident in motorsport but the Mercedes driver now believes that gap has grown so wide that there is "no way" a talent could replicate his rise through the ranks.

Speaking in an interview with Spanish newspaper AS, Hamilton said: "For me, personally, we're living in a time that this is really a billionaire boys club.

"If I go back to where I started, growing up in a normal working-class family, there's no way that I could be here. No way. All the guys that you're fighting against just have that much more money.

"I think for the future we've got to work to change that. To make it more accessible, to people from rich and more normal backgrounds."

Unwilling to "pass judgement" on the younger generation of driver's entering the sport, Hamilton was asked if he felt title rival Max Verstappen was his natural successor at the top.

"I don't know," he answered. "I think there's a great group of young talent here.

"Given the opportunity, I think Lando [Norris] for me has a huge amount of potential. And so does Charles [Leclerc]. I can't predict which one of these is going to be out in front leading this sport."

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