Lewi🔯s Hamilton may opt to quit Formula 1 if he loses his hunger for more world titles, according to two-time F1 world champion Mika Hakkinen.

Having seen Hamilton wrap up his fourth F1 crown this﷽ season, Hakkinen bel⛄ieves the British driver will remain in the sport as long as he’s competitive and has the desire to hunt further world championships.

Since takingꦍ his fourth title Hamilton has been continually questioned about his ambition to match the likes of Juan Manuel Fangio on five titles and Michael Schumacher on seven and has conceded the German’s all-time title record could be out of his reach but hasn’t ruled out equa꧂lling Fangio.

Hakkinen says after se𝔍curing his two F1 titles in 1998 and 1999 he gave it everything for a third consecutive crown only to lose out to Schumacher and admits his hunger levels dropped before his retirement from the sport at the end of 2001.

“Lewis' achievement in winning four World Championship titles is impressive, and you can see that he has kept the hunger alive, that is critical,”✃ Hakkinen said on his Unibet blog. “When I won both my World Championships in 1998 and 19🐭99 I went into 2000 absolutely determined to win a third title, but it was not to be.

“Aft🔥er that☂ year, when I felt my energy levels drop a little, it was not long before I retired.”

Hamilton is currently undergoi🐽ng contract negotiations with Mercedes on a new three-year deal which is speculated to ꦿbe worth up to £120m.

The four-time F1 world champion’s existing contract ties him to the German manufacturer until the end of the 2018 season but he had previously voiced interest in switch🐬ing to teams in order to beꦕcome just the second driver in history after Fangio to win titles with three different manufacturers.

But with Ferrari sec🃏uring Sebastian Vettel until the end of 2020 and Red Bull also signing Max Verstappen on a long-term deal his options elsewhere have dri⭕ed up.

Hakkinen also named Verstappen his star driver of 2017 and predicts Red Bull to be a more consistent title challenger in the future with the Dutch driver an𒁏d team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.

“Max Verstappen was the standout driver of the season because he is so exciting to watch,” he said. “The two wins in Malaysia and Mexico showed that both he and the team have been getting stronger, and 𝔍with Daniel Ricciardo winning in Baku, it means Ferrari and Mercedes could never relax.”