Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Red Bull Ring, 2021

Official: New deal keeps Hamilton at Mercedes until 2023

2022 F1 season

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Lewis Hamilton will continue to race in Formula 1 until at least 2023 after signing a new two-year deal to drive for Mercedes.

The seven-times world champion has been with the team since 2013, during which time he has won six world championships, and equalled Michael Schumacher’s record of seven.

“It is hard to believe it’s been nearly nine years working with this incredible team and I’m excited we’re going to continue our partnership for two more years,” said Hamilton. “We’ve accomplished so much together but we still have a lot to achieve, both on and off the track.

“I’m incredibly proud and grateful of how Mercedes has supported me in my drive to improve diversity and equality in our sport. They have held themselves accountable and made important strides in creating a more diverse team and inclusive environment.

“Thank you to all the dedicated and talented individuals at Mercedes whose hard work makes it all possible and the board for their continued trust in me. We’re entering a new era of car which will be challenging and exciting and I can’t wait to see what else we can achieve together.”

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Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said Hamilton is “at the peak of his powers” and “there can be no better driver to have in our team than Lewis.”

Hamilton’s last contract extension, covering the current season, was announced just five months ago. Wolff said they did not want their latest talks to be a distraction from his championship fight with Max Verstappen.

“We are relishing the battle we have on our hands this year and that’s why we also wanted to agree this contract early, so we have no distractions from the competition on track,” said Wolff. “I have always said that as long as Lewis still possesses the fire for racing, he can continue as long as he wants.”

Since making his debut in Formula 1 in 2007, Hamilton has become the sport’s most successful driver. As well as equalling Schumacher’s record of championships, he has surpassed his fellow septuple-champion’s record tallies of race victories and pole positions.

Mercedes is yet to confirm the identity of its other driver for next year. Hamilton said last month he sees no reason to replace Valtteri Bottas, who joined him at the team in 2017. However Mercedes is known to be considering a promotion for its junior driver George Russell, who substituted for Hamilton at last year’s Sakhir Grand Prix.

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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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47 comments on “Official: New deal keeps Hamilton at Mercedes until 2023”

  1. Not a surprise, I guess this makes Russell a formality then?

    1. I think they’ll keep Bottas there, as they know that he will score the necessary points and not be a significant challenge for Hamilton should he have an opportunity for another WDC.

      1. @maddme
        Problem is that Bottas isn’t scoring the necessary points at the moment.
        And what happens when Hamilton retires? I think Mercedes ought to be succession planning a bit better than keeping Bottas in that seat.

        1. Without issues at Mercedes, Bottas could easily have had 35 points more though Neutralino, possibly more (since he would then be able to build on the confidence from say Monaco).

          And as @maddme mentions, now that they know Hamilton will be with the team for another 2 years, Mercedes might just want to keep Bottas in 2022 with the new cars and get Russel in for 2023 when the big change is settled down and they can have Hamilton be there as the one coaching Russel into a long term future at the team.

          1. I’m not sure Russell needs a lot of coaching to be honest @bascb ;)

          2. @bascb
            35 points is very generous, it’s more like 25 and even then he’d only be just ahead of Perez in the standings.
            What also doesn’t make sense is to retain Bottas as an ‘experienced hand’ for the new regulations, when the new regulations offer a reset, when previous experience won’t be nearly so valuable.

          3. After that amazing qualifying today, I hope Russel has a really good race tomorrow to show it off @nullapax.

            So far it still looks like he somehow has issues collecting the deserved points for great races (with either mistakes, team mistakes or car breakdowns getting into the way), which for the most part coaching won’t do too much to improve, so you might be right there.

            On the other hand, I guess Hamilton has enough to say to him on setup, race strategy and how to win many championships in a row :-)

    2. pastaman (@)
      3rd July 2021, 12:31

      Does it?

    3. @bernasaurus Hamilton re-signing was fairly obvious (because he said he was going to stay for the new regulations in 2022, he’s in a real fight with Verstappen that he may well lose, and signing for Mercedes was a virtual certainty, including because there was nowhere else left to go: Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren are all with the top drivers they want in place). I don’t think it means Russell is a formality at all. But it does increase his chances because there’s enough time for Bottas to find somewhere else (if Williams isn’t already a done deal as some seem to think, very possible) and Russell himself know has clear options, including pushing Mercedes with a ‘now or never’ argument. Switching for the new car is the ideal moment. And really, come on, they can’t make him wait with promises any longer. That’s over.

  2. Early and well done Mercedes. Gonna get a chance to still see him live on the track for at least 2 more years.

  3. Congrats Lewis!

    The cynic in me says that he’s seen the WDC 2021 slipping away, and thus the opportunity to become the GOAT so he’s giving himself at least two more years to achieve it.

    Also, they definitely need to bring Russell in so he can have two years as Lewis’ apprentice then be ready to lead the team in 2024.

    1. Russell has already shown he can lead the team after one race, Sir Lewis is in for a painful retirement if Georgie boy partners him at Mercedes.

      1. Just one race tells you nothing. And it was Russell on his own who made that mistake with the radio, on a steering wheel he had every opportunity to learn.
        And if you are talking about that one race (which really was a race on itself, since normally they would never go to such a track), ten you also need to talk about how he crashed behind a safety car, twice, one of which he created a very dangerous situation.

        Russell is a top talent, but acting like he showed everything in one race, is simply too simplistic.

        1. @xaoralas Well, Hamilton also made an even bigger steering wheel mistake recently…
          Russell did show a lot of talent in that race. And his lap times over one lap we’re only slightly down on Bottas because of the massive braking into turn one at the Sakhir GP – Russell said he lacked the confidence to brake as late and hard in the Mercedes. He regained time over the rest of the lap. Put any two top drivers in one team, and they’re both going to suffer losses (Prost/Senna?). Verstappen and Leclerc would be no different if Russell went there. And both of them have their own history of crashes, in fact Leclerc is still writing his.

        2. Hahahaha next joke, it was a race where despite it being a short lap teammates were still pulling massive gaps on each other.
          The facts are Russell couldn’t even fit in the car properly and qualified a hairs width behind Bottas and completely dominated him in the race.
          That tells you right there how easy Hamilton has had it, Russell would wipe the floor with him over a season.

  4. Right decision as he is still in a very good form.

  5. All indicators point to George for Mercedes next year, and eventually leading the team when Ham goes. But just maybe; with a complete car reset next year for all teams coupled with William’s promising future, Toto thinks George would benefit more from leading the Williams as the clear No 1 driver, than understudying Ham in 22?
    I would imagine a lot will depend on how Bottas performs over the next half a dozen races. At the moment he clearly is not.

    1. That seems a reasonable line of thought there Ian

    2. I think you may have nailed it there Ian.
      Shake down the new cars next year before making any major changes.

      1. And if Williams can build on their solid pace in Austria for the rest of the year and make that step up into the midfield for 2022, I can actually see how that bringing the team forward would actually give Russel quite a solid experience (something I wouldn’t have expected last year or even start of this year, seemed Williams was just hopelessly out of touch with the midfield/points finishes)

  6. As expected.

  7. A gap year for Bottas then?

  8. This is a bit surprising to me, he seemed a bit struggling this year so far, which I interpreted as the first sign of decline, I can’t imagine a driver who’s feeling that would sign for 2 more years, and I thought he wanted to retire in case he won the title, he doesn’t seem like a coward, as in not like rosberg, by signing a couple of years he exposes himself to the risk that with budget cap and new rules there might be competition again in 2022, possibly more than this year.

    1. Dave (@davewillisporter)
      3rd July 2021, 11:00

      @esploratore1 Hardly surprising if you ever listened to what he says. He loves the competition. It’s a motivator for him. You are correct in one thing. He is struggling this year as is Bottas. The car is a set up diva like 2017. Neither looks like they have gotten on top of it yet.

      1. Struggling is a bit of a stretch considering the distance he regularly puts between himself and his teammate on Sunday. There’s only one factor between him and another dominant display this year and that is Max.

  9. At least they’ve done it in a shorter time than the 2021 contract extension.

  10. Good.
    He is a damn fine driver to say the least and a good ambassador for the sport I think.

    I have never been impressed by drivers who win the WDC and then totally lose interest and/or leave.

    Lewis has a challenge this season but seems more than happy to keep fighting rather than bow out quick.
    Good man.

  11. This puts George in bit of a trouble, doesn’t it.

    Imagine if he is still unable to best a retiring Lewis towards the end of 2023.

    1. Why does it, he has nothing to lose. If Hamilton gets demolished by Russell then his legacy is finished.

      1. RandomMallard (@)
        3rd July 2021, 12:25

        Oliver21 I’m not a huge Hamilton fan (I don’t support him, but I don’t mind him), but him being beaten by Russell wouldn’t be the end of his legacy. Schumacher was comprehensively beaten in all 3 seasons he partnered Rosberg, but he is still (rightly) considered an all time great.

      2. then his legacy is finished.

        You really should add “in my useless opinion” to such silly statements.

        1. What do you know about F1.
          To claim getting smashed by Russell wouldn’t hurt his legacy is comical. 😂

          1. And who appointed you an authority on legacies? Please stop embarrassing yourself though I suppose that doesn’t mean anything to you.

          2. Let me explain just for you. If Russell spanks Hamilton then one would question Sir Lewis’ achievements and rightly so.

            It would prove that any top driver would rack up those titles in those Mercedes cars.

            You might fall for the stats but stats don’t paint the full picture.

    2. F1oSaurus (@)
      3rd July 2021, 12:34

      It’s the same problem Rosberg supposedly would face when Schumacher joined him at Mercedes. Rosberg did fine though destroying Schumacher three seasons in a row. Although granted the people who said upfront that Schumacher was going to crush poor Rosberg were quick to change their tune and then claimed that “of course” Schumacher never stood a chance because he was too old.

      1. You guys forget the little fact that Schumacher had been out of the sport for 3 seasons and had a terrible neck injury from a motorbike fall.

        You guys aren’t comparing apples with apples are you.

  12. Good. Can’t wait to see him get beaten by the younger talent in the coming years, he will give them a good fight.

    1. Thats the way I like to see it, the young gun taking on The Champ and defeating him. None of this retiring as defending champ.
      Anyway, given the complete reset next year, we may hardly mention Ham and Max again as they peddle around in the mid-field whilst Alonso and Seb fight it out for the WDC. :)

      1. Stranger things have happened :)

  13. Congrats Champ. You’ve earned it.

  14. Adam (@rocketpanda)
    3rd July 2021, 12:26

    So Bottas 1 year deal incoming…

  15. then his legacy is finished.

    You really should add “in my useless opinion” to such silly statements.

  16. Jelle van der Meer (@)
    3rd July 2021, 12:33

    Great, 2 more years of whining and lying Hamilton.

    Only positive is that it will keep the championship more interesting, imagine how one sided this year would have been if Lewis had retired.

    Less good news for likely Bottas or else Russell.

    1. Only positive is that it will keep the championship more interesting,

      It seems you’re aware that he’s a bloody good racer so it’s a bit weird that you’d start your post with that nonsense.

      1. There’s lots of bloody good racers on the grid, you need to get your head out the stat book.

  17. NeverElectric
    4th July 2021, 7:27

    Mercedes, please pension Bottas off at the end of the season – or sooner, please?
    He’s costing the team points, he’s nowhere near his teammate, and George is evidently so much better!

  18. Steven Percival
    29th July 2021, 0:14

    Lewis Hamilton has had it far to easy Mickey mouse would win in that car 6 fake championships fake champion the only goat I can see is eating grass on my farm brrrr brrrrr

Comments are closed.