Lewis Hamilton has signed a new two-year deal to race with Mercedes in Formula One until 2025. The seven-time champion and the team made the announcement that he has signed a new contract in the build-up to this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix at Monza. His team-mate George Russell has also extended his deal for two more years.
The 39-year-old is now in his 17th season in F1 and is already the second oldest driver in the sport, behind only Fernando Alonso, who is 42. The new contract will see Hamilton race on into his 40s, as he attempts to take a record eighth F1 championship, and means he will almost certainly see out his career with Mercedes.
“We dream every day of being the best and we have dedicated the past decade together to achieving that goal,” he said. “Being at the top does not happen overnight or over a short period of time, it takes commitment, hard work and dedication and it’s been an honour to earn our way into the history books with this incredible team.
“We have never been hungrier to win. We have learned from every success but also every setback. We continue to chase our dreams, we continue to fight no matter the challenge and we will win again. I’m grateful to the team who have supported me both on and off the track. Our story isn’t finished, we are determined to achieve more together and we won’t stop until we do.”
The Mercedes team principal, Toto Wolff, who joined them in 2013 – the same year as Hamilton – and has forged an immensely close friendship with the British driver, welcomed his commitment to racing on in F1 at Mercedes. “Our partnership with Lewis is one of the most successful in the sport’s history. It was always a formality that we would continue together and it’s energising for us all to be confirming that publicly,” he said.
“His qualities as a pure racing driver are illustrated by his remarkable track record; but over our years together, he has grown to become a pillar and leader of our team. Those leadership qualities are crucial as we focus on fighting for world championships again.”
Hamilton made his F1 debut with McLaren in 2007 and won his first title with the same team a year later. The records he has achieved in the sport since then are remarkable. He is F1′s most successful driver, equal with Michael Schumacher on seven titles but with the most wins and the most pole positions with 103 and 104, respectively.
His future had been under question as the new deal had taken so long to be sealed and various baseless rumours linked him with a move to Ferrari. Hamilton had insisted all year, however, that the deal had been all but done, with only fine-tuning required, and it appears it was finally concluded over F1′s summer break.
With his current deal set to end at the close of this season, the new contract would take him up to the end of 2025 and is expected to have an option for him to continue to race on for Mercedes when the next set of new regulations are imposed in 2026.
Since he was controversially denied his eighth title by Max Verstappen in the season finale at Abu Dhabi in 2021, the British driver has been determined to continue his attempts to claim another. However, Mercedes have been off the pace since the regulations changes of 2022, with Red Bull and Verstappen dominant, the Dutchman winning again last year and on his way to closing out this season already.
Hamilton has repeatedly expressed his belief that Mercedes can catch their rivals and that he would be able to compete for the title again, and re-signing is a further expression of his confidence that the team can do so.
Russell, the 25-year-old British driver from King’s Lynn, joined Mercedes in 2022 and took his debut win that season at the Brazilian GP. – Guardian
