F1 news: Lewis Hamilton signs £100m deal with Mercedes alongside Russell

Lewis Hamilton will continue to be a Formula One driver for Mercedes into his 40s. The seven-time world champion sealed his fate by signing a £100million contract extension with the team, which keeps him beside teammate George Russell until the 2025 season.

For the past two seasons, speculations had been rife that the seven-time world champion could soon call time on his career. He narrowly missed out on the 2021 Drivers' World Championship title to Max Verstappen in controversial fashion, but the Red Bull ace later dominated the 2022 campaign to seal his second championship victory.

In 2023, much like the year before, Mercedes had not been in title contention and even podium finishes have been difficult to come by. The 38-year-old has been short with his engineers on the radio on a number of occasions, leading some to believe that he may soon be ready to quit.

Hamilton had even been linked with a shock move to Scuderia Ferrari, but that has now been proven to be false in light of the new deal.

Both drivers will stay until 2025

Briton George Russell was seen as Hamilton's successor at Mercedes, but with the seven-time champion staying on for a further two seasons, he will now either wait or prove himself to be better than his more experienced teammate.

In 2022, Russell managed to outperform Hamilton, finishing fourth in the standings with 275 points. Hamilton only managed to finish in sixth place with 240 points, five points behind Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz.

This year, however, Hamilton is already 57 points ahead of Russell. It remains to be seen how the rivalry between the two teammates will play out for the second half of the season. They will be stuck together for another two years, and Toto Wolff will have his hands full if he wants to keep both drivers happy.

Hamilton expressed his commitment to the long-term goal of bringing Mercedes back to winning ways, and Russell will want to be able to make his own contributions to the team's decorated history.

Still hungry to win

Hamilton, who is set to earn £50m a year in 2024 and 2025, says that the motivation is at its highest at the moment. "We have never been hungrier to win. We have learnt 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," he said.

He expressed his gratitude to the team while promising that their story is not yet finished. Of course, everyone knows that he is still chasing his eighth world championship title, one that would put his record over Michael Schumacher. They currently share the record for most titles with seven each. Now, Hamilton has at least three more chances take the solo record even though this season is probably already lost.

"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," he added.

Hamilton has also gone into several ventures outside racing. He started his own fashion brand and is also known to have dabbled into making his own music. This year, he is also co-producing an F1-themed Hollywood film starring Brad Pitt. Contrary to what many believed, he isn't shifting his focus elsewhere but is instead staying in F1.

Best driver pairing on the grid

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is delighted by the contract renewals and insists that it did not take him long to decide that this is the right decision. "We have the strongest pairing on the grid and both drivers are playing a crucial role in the team to move us forward," he said, adding that he will count on their "strength and stability" moving forward.

He called it a merely a "formality" to continue with Hamilton, calling him a "pillar and leader" in the Mercedes garage. Meanwhile, he called Russell a "leading light of his generation," saying that the younger driver has already repaid the opportunity he was given when he was handed the Mercedes seat back in 2022. It may be remembered that he secured the team's lone victory in an otherwise disastrous 2022 campaign.

"He is a natural fit to the team and we are delighted to have extended the relationship for the coming years."