F1: Lewis Hamilton prepares to tackle his Everest...by climbing the real thing once he has retired

Mercedes driver wants to climb a number of mountains once he has retired with an aim of tackling the biggest of them all for charity

Lewis Hamilton has admitted he wants to climb Mount Everest (GETTY IMAGES)

Lewis Hamilton conquered one Everest in winning the Formula One world title five years ago and now he is planning on tackling the real thing.

Given Hamilton's ambitious streak, the 28-year-old is to take on the world's highest mountain, albeit when he will have retired from F1.

Hamilton last week at least gave himself a taster of his future plans with a trek up Borneo's Mount Kinabalu, which stands at 4,095 metres.

"I plan to climb a lot of mountains over the next five to 10 years, and eventually the big one at the end, at some stage," said Hamilton, speaking to Press Association Sport.

"I've climbed the 20th highest mountain in the world (Kinabalu), but I'm not going to climb 20 mountains - my legs would be killing me!

"But I'll do Kilimanjaro, Mount Fuji, Mont Blanc and probably one in the States. I think Alaska is probably a bit too dangerous.

"I hike up mountains in the French Alps and stuff like that, but it's not really the same, they're only at 2,000m or 3,000m, whereas the one last week was 4,000m.

"It was just hiking, like doing a million stairs, but it was pretty cool.

"As for Everest, it's just something I'd like to do, but I'm going to do it for charity."

Hamilton is currently associated with UNICEF and Save the Children, but added: "By the time I do the big, big climb I will have selected a couple more."

PA