28/10/2022
NEWS STORY
Lewis Hamilton has confirmed that talks are underway to secure a new "multi-year" contract with Mercedes.
Days after he almost pulled off his first win of the season, Lewis Hamilton arrived in Mexico with a new spring in his step.
Though he is contracted to Mercedes for 2023 and has recently claimed that he aims to continue racing, there has been speculation as to whether he really means it, especially when earlier this month he said he would remain committed to Mercedes "for the rest of my life" but didn't specify whether this was in a racing capacity.
"In terms of my plans for the future, each year, at the end of the year, you sit there and you're looking over whatever view you have, and you're sitting there trying to figure out and analyse like my next three-to-five-year plan," he told reporters at COTA last weekend. "It's difficult to do ten.
"But where do I see myself? What are the things I want to do? What are my goals? And things are being added. And I'm adding in lots of business things. I have a lot of business going on. I have a lot of successful, really positive things that have lots of opportunity for success outside.
"I'm still 100% committed, as I imagine when you have family it's hard to be 100% committed, because you're sacrificing so much that means so much to you. We're on different paths, building different things.
"Do I imagine myself being here beyond 40? Maybe," he smiled. "But we are going to do another deal. We're going to sit down and we're going to discuss it in these next couple of months, I would say.
"My goal is to continue to be with Mercedes," he admitted. "I've been with Mercedes since I was 13. Mercedes-Benz is my family. They've stuck with me through thick and thin, they stuck with me through being expelled at school. They stuck with me through everything that was going on through 2020. They've stuck me through my mistakes, and shit that's been in the press, they've stuck with me through the ups and downs. And so I really believe in this brand, I believe in the people that are within the organisation."
Speaking today in Mexico, having confirmed that talks are now underway, the Briton said: "I think it will be a multi-year contract. There's like this whole thing of me retiring that's always lingering around and honestly, I don't like the idea of it and I don't feel like I'm there.
"We have a lot more work to do as a team, as individuals within the team, we have a lot more to do as a sport and I want to be a part of that shifting."
Facing the reality that this could be his first win-less season since entering the sport, the Briton signed off on as positive note, insisting that "we have more winning to do".
Check out our Thursday gallery from Mexico City here.