Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Silverstone, 2018

Hamilton extends deal to race for Mercedes F1 team in 2019 and 2020

2019 F1 season

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Lewis Hamilton has signed a new deal to remain at Mercedes for the 2019 F1 season, the team has announced.

A new two-year deal was confirmed by the team on Thursday.

“This contract extension has basically been a formality since Toto [Wolff, team principal] and I sat down during the winter,” said Hamilton. “So it’s good to put pen to paper, announce it and then get on with business as usual.”

“I have been part of the Mercedes racing family for 20 years and I have never been happier inside a team than I am right now.

“We are on the same wavelength both on and off track – and I am looking forward to winning more in the future and shining even more light on the three-pointed star. I’m very confident that Mercedes is the right place to be over the coming years.

Hamilton joined Mercedes in 2013 following a six-year spell at McLaren, during which time he won his first world championship. He has added a further three titles since then and won 44 races for the team.

“Although we have enjoyed so much success together since 2013, Mercedes is hungrier than ever – from Dr [Dieter] Zetsche and the board members at the top of Daimler, through Toto and the team management, to every single person I meet in the corridors of Brixworth and Brackley.

“The competitive passion that burns bright inside me is shared by every single member of this group – always chasing the next improvement and digging even deeper to make sure we come out on top. I can’t wait to see what we can achieve together in the next two-and-a-half seasons.”

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Wolff confirmed the team and Hamilton “signed the final documents this week and didn’t want to keep people waiting any longer”.

The 33-year-old is the most successful driver in F1 today, with 65 victories to his name, more than any driver in history bar Michael Schumacher.

“There is not much about Lewis as a Formula One driver that hasn’t been said already – he is one of the all-time greats and his track record speaks for itself,” said Wolff.

“But what I enjoy most about working with him is getting to know the man inside the racing helmet: his relentless drive for self-improvement, his emotional intelligence as a team member and his loyalty to those around him.

“Mercedes has become Lewis’ home in Formula One and his story is linked forever with the silver and green of Mercedes-AMG Petronas. I am very confident that we have some incredible chapters of our story together still to come.”

View the current list of 2019 F1 drivers and teams

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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36 comments on “Hamilton extends deal to race for Mercedes F1 team in 2019 and 2020”

  1. Vettel fan 17 (@)
    19th July 2018, 11:06

    Oh my… what a surprise. I don’t think anyone expected that

  2. That pretty much closes off any alternatives for Daniel Riccardo.

    Wouldn’t surprise me if we see Red Bull announce that this weekend or in Hungary either …

  3. I thought as much it would be a 2 year contract. I think 2021 is when Lewis might retire from the sport. I doubt he’d want to be racing post 35 years old.

    Now let’s see how long Bottas gets on his contract. I’m guessing another one year contract, just because Ocon and Russell might be viable options for the future.

    1. @todfod Mercedes F1 contract takes them to end of 2020, even if the team wanted to they couldn’t offer/agree to anything beyond 2020 to any driver. Hamilton may well retire end of 2020, but let’s not mistake this two year extension as solely Hamilton driven!

      1. @ju88sy

        Aah… Interesting. Completely forgot that Mercedes might not be around 3 seasons from now.

      2. Mercedes F1 contract takes them to end of 2020

        @ju88sy – I was under the impression that none of the teams are contracted beyond 2020 when the current Bernie-era agreements run out. I could be mistaken however, and maybe its just Mercedes.

        1. @phylyp I think that indeed applies to all of them.

  4. So, 2021 is going to be a silly season in so many ways – drivers, new team entries, technical regulations, prize money :-)

  5. The competitive passion that burns bright inside me is shared by every single member of this group – always chasing the next improvement and digging even deeper to make sure we come out on top.

    What a bunch of PR crap. Anyway business as usual until 2021 :\

    1. @eljueta – I’m just going to leave this link here: Every F1 Intro Video ever, from the Chain Bear F1 channel.

      It’s a disease of F1, the wider corporate world, and media handlers: flowery prose.

    2. @eljueta, @phylyp: Can’t see what’s wrong with the flowery prose. This is above anything else a big show, it’s meant to be spectacular and even epic. Spectacular and epic words fit it perfectly.

  6. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
    19th July 2018, 12:11

    I did expect this to happen and it is the right decision. A

    What I’m hoping is that Bottas will get a similar deal. The level of bad luck he’s had this year makes him look far worse than he has been.

    He lost a win in China due to a safety car costing him 7 points.

    He lost a win in Baku (although that would have been slightly lucky as he was helped a little by the safety car) but still a bit of good luck was due. 25 points missed.

    In France, he got knocked right to the back and would have almost certainly been 2nd without that.
    Another 12 points lost.

    In Austria, he may have had a poor start, but instantly pleased the team by putting them back into a 1 – 2 position. If Mercedes didn’t mess either of their drivers strategies up, Bottas will have likely finish with 18 points. But both drivers had to retire.

    Even in Britain. Bottas looked settled for 2nd before the 2 safety cars near the end of the race. If Mercedes had chosen to pit him, the worst that would have happened was finishing 3rd, but more likely 2nd. So up to another 6 points possibly lost here. So without all this, he could potentially have 172 points and be in the lead of the championship. Although if this was the case, Hamilton certainly will have had worse luck, this wouldn’t have been impossible would it? Seeing Bottas in the championship fight mid season may change some peoples views on him. But despite him being as far back as he is now, I think he’s looking about as good as Rosberg was with Hamilton. And you can see how much better they get on as a team too. I don’t really think Mercedes will have to think for much longer.

    I just hope they will sign Bottas so he has a chance to have a season to impress without such bad luck. Bottas just hasn’t had anything go his way this year.

    1. The level of bad luck he’s had this year makes him look far worse than he has been.

      @thegianthogweed – I don’t think anyone who follows F1 beyond just the points tally would disagree. He’s been doing a great job, and we’d honestly be looking at a three-way title fight if not for Lady Luck.

      I think he’s looking about as good as Rosberg was with Hamilton.

      I’d personally rate his racing as better. Mentally, Bottas looks bulletproof. Even when he had his blowout in Baku, there was that heart-breaking picture of him with head in hands, but he bounced right back from that without a fuss. And as you mentioned, the icing is that his presence has defused the tensions that have been in the team between 2014-2016.

      Like you, I’d like to see Mercedes give him a two-year contract to show their confidence in him, and not a half-hearted one-year extension.

      1. I still need to see way more from VB before I can buy into him. I disagree with the comparisons you are making to Nico. There’s a big difference. Nico was performing under the highest of pressure situations for full seasons, several in a row, meaning he was even spending off-seasons strained by the rivalry between he and LH, knowing they were in dominant cars with no other competition.

        VB has not shown us, and admittedly with his bad luck has sometimes not been able to show us, anything near what he can do when the pressure is at it’s greatest for sustained amounts of time, like for Nico, the driver who if Mercedes had their way would still be on the team.

        This notion that he and LH get along and there’s so much peace and harmony on the team now makes me disappointed that that seems to be some people’s measure of how it should be. If VB is all that, everything that Nico was or more, then the peace will not be lasting on the team anyway. If VB were to actually take the fight to LH, how long before LH would start whinging and asking for special strategies to get ahead of VB, accusations of favouritism by media and fans etc etc…all the things that come up surrounding a real rivalry.

        For now, and as I say I fully admit the circumstances haven’t added up, any talk of VB being a Championship contender of the ilk of LH, SV, or NR is pure speculation. When he is in the same pressure cooker that Nico was, then we’ll know what he is truly made of, for the peace on the team will have to come to an end for that to happen. It’s all well and good to claim how lovey dovey things are in the team, but that only works when there isn’t really a rivalry, and rivalries are what we deserve in the pinnacle of racing, not number ones with number twos for rear gunners. I really cannot envision VB being anything but LH’s rear gunner. I do so hope he proves me wrong, starting this weekend even, although I think at this point VB will have to start relinquishing points to LH wherever possible due to SV’s strength and standing this season.

        1. Rosberg would’ve had NO CHANCE at all on a championship like 2017 or 2018, the only chance to win a title for drivers of his caliber is having a dominant car and an unlucky team mate (if he’s stronger, like hamilton).

          Bottas would’ve won the 2016 title as well with the circumstances that played out, I don’t see how bottas is not performing at the same level as rosberg, keeping into account the much higher competition he has.

          Ofc he didn’t get the chance to show how he deals with constant pressure with a title fight yet.

  7. He’ll retire after this. Honestly, thought he’d retire this season if he didn’t win the title, he’s seemed very ‘done’ with the sport this year. Was expecting 1 year maximum. He could still walk out on the contract though I suppose. But he definitely won’t race in 2021, he’ll be 36 when the season starts.

  8. Nothing weird. Would have been shocking to see him retire. Then, he obviously wants to remain at the top, improve his records and maybe get other records and also grab big money… and there’s no other top team where to go now that guarantees the same demands. Otherwise, if it was just for the pleasure of being in F1 in his last years, he could have went back to McLaren or some other team, but the car would have been poor and the salary too.

  9. I wonder if his number of WDC titles will have an effect on his decision to stay post 2020. If Lewis won this year and/or either of the next 2 years he would be on six titles. Would he want to match Michael and achieve seven. Will this have an impact on his decision?
    It will be interesting to see how this turns out.

  10. For all the talk of loving a challenge and all that, this guy will have only changed 2 teams in his whole F1 career, and both of those teams were among the richest, and in the top 2, the season he joined them.

    I really can’t be bothered trying to get excited about F1. There were times when I wouldn’t miss a race. Now, I will be hard pressed to actually prioritize watching a race, over doing whatever it is that I’m doing that weekend. Who is actually staying home during that time of the day during Summer? You work over the week, and when the weekend comes, you’ll be out for a stroll, ride a bike, go visit friends, have some friends over, visit relatives or anything else, but I certainly wouldn’t prefer sitting at home during the Summer weekend afternoon.

    1. Bye then. :)

    2. Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
      19th July 2018, 15:27

      I’m no HAM fan but when he signed for Merc in September 2012 they had the fifth fastest car. Credit where credit is due, he didnt have a crystal ball.

      1. He didn’t have a crystal ball, as none of us do, but here’s how that played out for me. I’m not an LH fan either, but on this site I defended his move to Merc at the time for a couple of reasons. Firstly I thought his time was done at Mac and that it was time for him to leave the ‘nest’ where he grew up. There was starting to be some baggage there. But secondly it was because I was completely convinced that Brawn was right when he said at the time that where you wanted to be (as a driver he meant) was with a factory based works team for the next gen of cars in 2014. I never did think LH was taking nearly the risk by leaving Mac and going to Merc that many thought he was taking. Plus Merc would have had a ton of data on LH from their corroboration at Mac.

        1. Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
          19th July 2018, 21:27

          Fair play @robbie I have to hold my hands up and say I was firmly in the short sighted ‘this-is-a-dumb-move’ camp

    3. YellowSubmarine
      19th July 2018, 18:07

      Mercedes were a top 2 team when Hamilton joined them?? Do you really watch f1, or are you just mouthing off because you don’t like the guy?

    4. Man, get out. Simple as that.

    5. Is that sarcasm or denseness ?

    6. So Hamilton had the chance to start in a top team, then made a gutsy move to a team that only afterwards became a top team and has stayed there beause they’ve been top ever since. And you hold this against him? He can’t do anything right for you, now can he!
      (And I’m not even a real Ham fan.)

  11. Expected.

  12. The most interesting part of this article is the ‘View the current list of 2019 F1 drivers and teams‘ link.
    All bar VET/VER/HAM are TBC.

    1. And now that the first domino has been knocked over…

      1. Not sure if this is a first domino as I would think most of the world including everyone within F1 would have known this was going to happen. Did anyone actually think LH’s seat was about to become available? I admit there is the concept that it is now official and perhaps some needed to hear it officially from contract standpoints, but really…

  13. Oh yay … two more years of whining.

  14. As a Hamilton fan, I’d love to see him match Schumacher, but the idea of Mercedes still winning for this and two more years fills me with dread. I’d really like to have seen him go to Ferrari, I’d sooner enjoy the challenge of him trying to win with Ferrari than mopping up with Mercedes.

  15. So, what about retirement?

  16. @hugh11 Did you listen to the first ‘Beyond the Grid’ podcast? if not listen then come back and reassess your comment (and also listen to the Robert Kubica episode it’s excellent!).

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