F1 legend tells Lewis Hamilton to QUIT the sport before 'anything bad' happens to him
The advice came as Hamilton's future is in the balance following a calamitous Hungarian Grand Prix at the weekend.
After qualifying only 12th while his Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc took pole, the seven-time world champion called himself 'absolutely useless' and suggested Ferrari should replace him.
Hamilton stood by those sentiments after finishing 12th on Sunday. Nonetheless, he indicated he would probably return after Formula One's brief summer break at the Dutch Grand Prix on August 31.
But Ecclestone, the sport's godfather, is opposed to Hamilton persevering a race longer.
'Lewis is very talented, was and probably still is,' the 94-year-old told Mail Sport from Portugal. 'But like a lot of leading sports personalities when they reach the top, there is only one way to go, and it's not a good direction. It's only down.
'They get tired. Lewis is tired. He's been doing what he is doing forever. He needs a rest from it for good, a total reset to do something completely different.
'He may not think it but he will soon get used to doing other stuff away from motor racing in retirement. I think he should have done it a while ago.
'The guy is not a cheat. But he would be cheating himself if he goes on. He should stop now.
'If I were looking after him I would negotiate with Ferrari immediately and say, 'If you have someone to replace Lewis, he'll step aside.''
Hamilton is in the first year of a three-year deal with Ferrari worth £60million per annum, since his move from Mercedes in a transfer that electrified Formula One.
But aged 40, he has struggled to recreate the excellence of his younger days. Without a podium appearances in 14 attempts, he has been out-qualified by Leclerc 10 times and only twice beaten his colleague in grands prix, though he won the sprint race in China with aplomb.
Ecclestone, who masterminded Formula One for 40 years before Liberty Media bought the business in 2017, spent the weekend at the Budapest race he established behind the Iron Curtain in 1986 and observed Hamilton at close quarters.
He said: 'If I were Lewis, I would say to Ferrari that I wanted to be paid all my contract, in full. They signed him because they thought he could do a job. 'It isn't working so I can I can make way if you want me to, but that's the arrangement.
'It could work for both parties.'
Ecclestone managed two drivers who died racing, Stuart Lewis-Evans, in 1958, and Jochen Rindt, the only posthumous world champion, in 1970. Both tragedies hit him hard.
Aware of the dangers involved in Formula One, Ecclestone said: 'I wouldn't want anything bad to happen to Lewis. He's not fighting for a world championship and is at a stage of his life when it wouldn't be worth him spending two years laid up in bed with a broken back or anything else nasty.
'He doesn't need to take the risk any longer. He's won seven world titles and that is quite enough.'
As for a replacement, Ecclestone has two suggestions for the hierarchy at Maranello.
'If I could steal him, I'd take Isack Hadjar from Racing Bulls,' he said. 'He has done super well in his first year and is a great guy.
'I also rate our friend from Brazil (Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto). He is talented. Both of them are sensible, too.'
However, Hamilton's old Mercedes boss Toto Wolff believes his former star driver should continue next season, when new a new generation of cars is introduced.
The Austrian said: 'Lewis has unfinished business in Formula One.
'In the same way Mercedes underperformed in the latest set of regulations since 2022, it hit him. Maybe it is linked to driving style.
'So he shouldn't go anywhere next year. It's brand new cars, which will be completely different to drive, and new power units, so it is absolutely on for Lewis in 2026, and hopefully for many more years.
'If he has confidence in the car, there is no reason he cannot win an eighth world title.'
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