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SPIELBERG, Austria – Current Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton has bucked the trend by expressing no interest in competing in the Le Mans 24 Hours.
While rivals made no secret of their desire to emulate Force India's Nico Hulkenberg, who won the 2015 endurance race on Sunday June 14 with Porsche team mates Earl Bamber and Nick Tandy, Hamilton was unmoved.
"I didn't watch it... I don't think I've ever seen Le Mans," the Mercedes driver said ahead of the Austrian F1 GP. "It's not something i which I've been particularly interested. I love cars but it's not been something I ever wanted to do - so I don't plan to."
HULKENBERG HAILED AS 'TRAILBLAZER'
The view elsewhere was very different, with Hulkenberg congratulated on his triumph and hailed as a trailblazer in becoming th first active F1 driver to win Le Mans since 1991.
Felipe Massa, a race winner for Ferrari and on pole in Austria for Williams in 2014, said it was something he would like to do one day. "To race there? Yeah, I think so, the best car after F1 is what they are using there... I think it's amazing.
"Maybe I think about going there because of the car and some interesting races they have."
McLaren's Fernando Alonso said Le Mans was in his plans: "I considered to race in Le Mans. In the future, and when in the future I don't know, I just said it was very close this year, so maybe next year. I don't know."
RICCIARDO KEEN, TOO
Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo said he'd watched most of the race and was a fan. "Racing is what we do, it's fun, it's nice to have a weekend off but when I was watching it I was thinking it would be nice to be racing as well, on this weekend off.
"Fortunately Nico's made us all look good and I think he's made it all seem possible for us now. Maybe we'll get the praise from our teams to venture into these things in future."
Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel agreed with Ricciardo: "It was great to see the guys were flat-out from the first lap. For the whole race, basically. I think - as racing drivers - that's what we're after. To push every single lap and for a long time - that means more fun."