Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Briatore: Hamilton should focus less on music, more on F1

F1 Grand Prix of Monaco

MONTE-CARLO, MONACO - MAY 24: Flavio Briatore, his wife Elisabetta Gregoraci and their son Falco Nathan attend the Monaco Formula One Grand Prix at Circuit de Monaco on May 24, 2015 in Monte-Carlo, Monaco. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

Getty Images

Ex-Renault Formula 1 chief and driver manager Flavio Briatore believes that defending world champion Lewis Hamilton needs to focus more on his racing commitments and less on his pursuits away from the track.

Hamilton is chasing a fourth F1 drivers’ championship in 2016, but has squandered a 19-point lead over Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg to trail by eight with six races remaining in the season.

Hamilton has a jet-set lifestyle away from the track, enjoying a celebrity status outside of F1 unmatched by any other driver on the grid.

However, Briatore believes that if Hamilton is to beat Rosberg to the drivers’ title in 2016, he needs to charge all of his efforts on his on-track performances.

“Rosberg seems lately to have his head in place,” Briatore told Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport.

“Hamilton is a bit ‘DJ’, a bit ‘rapper’. He has great talent, but if you want to win you have to concentrate on only one thing.

“If I were him, I would work a little less on music and more on F1.”

Hamilton has faced criticism about his lifestyle throughout his F1 career, but is always quick to defend his interests outside of the sport.

“Do I enjoy my life? Absolutely. You can call it as you want,” Hamilton told Auto Motor und Sport back in April.

“All people are different. It’s good when a character is unique. There are still far too many people who think that they have to adapt to be accepted.

“The more people who break out of this bubble and find themselves, the better.”

Follow @LukeSmithF1