Remaining in F1 for at least another two seasons, Lewis Hamilton admits that "unfinished business" was a key factor behind his decision to continue with Mercedes.

With the Briton out of contract at season end, he and boss Toto Wolff have used every possible excuse in the book to explain why the customary 'announce' was not forthcoming, thereby allowing the usual suspects to continue with the infamous "Lewis to Ferrari', "Leclerc to Mercedes" clickbait headlines.

Today, at Monza, where over the years numerous teams have announced their intentions for the following season, Hamilton finally put us out of our misery, agreeing a new two-year deal.

"You're all stuck with me for a little bit longer," told members of the media. "I couldn't be happier to be extending with this team. We've had such an incredible journey together.

"Mercedes have supported me since I was 13," he continued, "it's been a long trip and we still have unfinished business, so we are in this together.

"We've got a lot of work to do to get ourselves back to the front," he admitted, "but there's no place I would rather be."

Despite the long, long wait for the seven-time champion to sign on the dotted line, and the resultant speculation, walking away from the sport was never an option.

"I definitely wanted to continue," he said. "I mean, I think in life there's always up and downs, like last year was a difficult year. I'm pretty sure everyone was questioning whether they wanted to continue because it's tough at the top and it's such a tough sport. But that feeling quickly goes away and you put your mind and your energy into being the best you can be and dealing with the situations that you're faced with.

"I'm really proud of what we achieved last year to get through it," he added. "We started on the wrong foot this year, to have some really great results; we're second in the championship. The plan is to keep that and then close the gap to the guy ahead."

Indeed, Hamilton is convinced that despite two season in the relative F1 wilderness - certainly by Mercedes' own lofty standards - the German team can return to its winning ways.

"It's what you see," he said. "It's not necessarily what someone says, it's the work that you're doing, it's the meetings we've been having with all the engineers.

"James Allison and the whole group back at the factory, the heads of all the departments coming together and talking and just really engaging better than ever before about where we are, the mistakes we've made, why we made those decisions, why we won't make them again, and where we're going.

"It's having that confidence in each other that we are the best at what we do, and when we come together and, given time, we will get to where we need to be."