Lewis Hamilton fears for his legacy after 'wasting away best years' at McLaren

An anxious Lewis Hamilton has admitted time is running out on his dream of becoming a multiple World Champion and intimated he left McLaren due to fears he was "wasting away the best years" of his career.

Earning a reputed £60m over the course of his three-season contract with Mercedes, the 28-year-old Hamilton should, according to accepted wisdom, currently be at the peak of his powers, and his claim that he didn't have a car capable of challenging for a championship since 2008 is, at best, contentious. In 2012, it was a corrosive mix of cock-ups and calamity, rather than the car, which cost him - and McLaren - dear. Yet the prospect of Hamilton's legacy being thoroughly eclipsed by that of the relentlessly-successful Vettel is a very real one - and, apparently, very troubling. For both Alonso and Hamilton, all the talent in the world is a small consolation for an acute shortage of World Championships.