As it currently stands, Lewis Hamilton’s Formula 1 career will end at the conclusion of this season, with the 38-year-old still yet to sign an expected multi-year deal due to there having been “no time” yet for a conversation with Mercedes.
Hamilton retiring at the end of 2023 certainly isn’t on the cards, with the seven-time World Champion having admitted in 2022 that he could continue driving for “another five years”, according to Mercedes boss Toto Wolff.
For as long as can be remembered, the Stevenage-born driver has had no interest in remaining in Formula 1 into his 40s; however, this is set to happen should he race for a few more seasons.
Having turned 38 on January 7, Hamilton will race at the age of 40 should he compete in the 2025 season, something which can perhaps be expected if a multi-year deal is in the pipeline.
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Many would expect the deal to be signed and announced to the world before the season begins at the start of March, with the attention at that point likely to turn to whether Hamilton will endure another season below the top three.
2022 was woeful for Hamilton and Mercedes, with the British driver having failed to claim a pole position or a victory.
As if that wasn’t enough, George Russell became just the third team-mate of Hamilton’s to beat the 103-time GP winner in the Drivers’ Championship.
Despite it all, though, Hamilton has always remained upbeat when looking ahead into the future, with him having revealed that he’ll “definitely stay” in F1 for a while longer yet.
“We haven’t started yet. So far, there has been no time for this, we were on the road,” Hamilton told Bild.
“Sometimes you wake up and have this feeling: ‘I don’t want to do this anymore’. And sometimes you wake up and think: ‘I can do other things all my life, there’s definitely more I want to achieve’.
“It won’t be a huge time now, but I will definitely stay.”
Wolff too, has admitted that there hasn’t been the time to sit down and put pen to paper just yet, due to a “pretty long” list of things having to be done first.
The Austrian has confirmed, though, that it will be addressed “over the winter”, with no strict “deadline” having been set by either party.
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“Well, the job list is pretty long in what is needed to be done,” Wolff said.
“But certainly, Lewis’ contract is one of the topics that we will tackle over the winter. But there is no firm deadline.
“Lewis is part of the team and the team is part of Lewis. There is no reason to not continue.”