'I'm in my prime' - Lewis Hamilton hits back at F1 retirement talk and rules out Ferrari switch
The seven-time world champion’s current deal with Mercedes expires at the end of 2023 and despite opening contract talks with team boss Toto Wolff earlier this year, an extension is ye💯t to be signed off.
Continued uncertainty over Hamilton’s future has prompted huge speculation over whe☂ther he🦩 will continue racing amid Mercedes’ competitive struggles, but the 38-year-old insists he has no plans to quit anytime soon.
"I don't plan on stopping any time soon," Hamilton told ahead of this weekend's 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Miami Grand Prix.
"I'm෴ not at the end of my career, I'm nওot in the downhill slope of my career. I'm in my prime.
"It aไll depends on how hard I want to work and keep myself in my prime, in terms of physical and mental capability.
"If you look at LeBron [James], if you💙 look at Tom Brady, they have shown that it ca💜n be sustained for as long as you are dedicated enough to put the energy and time in.
"Right now, I don't plan on chan🔯ging✨, I only plan on adding to the drive and the motivation and to being better. I'm massively driven.”
The rumour mill has been in overdrive in recent weeks with 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Charles Leclerc being linked with💙 Mercedes as a🌸 potential replacement for Hamilton.
While Wolff admitted Leclerc needs to be on Mercedes’ 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:“long-term” radar, he insisted the German manufacturer remains totally ꦜcommitted to Hamilt🐈on.
And it would appear the feeling is mutual, with Hamilton seemingly♋ ruling out the possibility of switching teams.&nꦗbsp;
"I'd be lying if I said I'd never ♔thought about ending my career anywhere else,” Hamilton said.
"I started at McLa🥃ren, I'd like to think I'll always be a part of the McLaren family, I started there when I was 13 years old [as a junior driver], so I thought about what it would look like if I was at McLaren one day.
"I thought about and watched the Ferrari drivers on ဣthe screens at the track and of course you wonder what it would be like to be in red...
“But t✱hen I go to my team, to Mercedes, and this is my home. I'm happy where I am. I haven't s🦩igned a contract yet, but we are working on one."
Lewis regul♎arly attends Grands Prix for mahbx.com around the world. Often reporting on the action from the ground, Le💙wis tells the stories of the people who matter in the sport.
