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It was announced ahead of the Italian Grand Prix weekend that Mercedes had locked down both their incumbent drivers in Lewis Hamilton and George Russell until the end of 2025 – confirming at least another two seasons for the seven-time world champion Hamilton.
While it was widely expected that the 38-year-old would renew with the Silver Arrows – who have powered the Briton to seven world championships, including his maiden at the Mercedes-powered McLaren team in 2008 – the idea of a switch to another team was entertained by the media.
However, an individual in sport who should be lauded for his loyalty to a brand that has supported him since he was 13, made the rational choice of signing on with the Brackley-based outfit. Along with the stability of the highly-rated Russell as his teammate.
“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,” said Hamilton in the team-issued statement.
Together, Hamilton and Mercedes have achieved incredible feats in Formula One. Eighty-two of his record 103 victories are with the Silver Arrows, whom he joined in 2013, as well as six championships and having contributed to a record eight consecutive constructors’ titles as well between 2014 and 2021.
(Photo by Michael Potts/BSR Agency/Getty Images)
Off-track, too, Hamilton has used his platform to highlight many social and cultural issues within the sport and society, using the atrocities witnessed in 2020 to inspire others to help the ongoing battle to eliminate racism, discrimination, and inequality.
The establishment of the Hamilton Commission is a key legacy of the world champion’s achievements on-track as well as off it.
Though the change in technical regulations to the sport in 2022 saw Mercedes fall away from the benchmark Red Bull Racing, with their ornate lack-of-sidepods car concept failing to keep the Silver juggernaut atop the F1 summit. It was also Hamilton’s first winless season since his debut in 2007 and while many will call out his privilege in only driving for top teams, it’s fair to retort with the fact he’s persisting.
Particularly after Russell, in only his first year with Mercedes, outscored the established world champion 275 points to 240, and won the team’s only race in the beleaguered 2022 season. Stuck in fossicking through experimental setups and bearing the brunt of the endemic bouncing problems with the ground-effect cars, it was certainly a character-defining year.
Coming, too, after the enthralling 2021 season and the titanic title battle between Hamilton and Max Verstappen, which controversially went the way of the latter at the final race and on the final lap in Abu Dhabi.
(Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)
In retrospect, it is a testament to the world champion’s determination and resilience that he firstly did not walk away after Abu Dhabi, but then had the faith following a challenging 2022 and less than optimal start in 2023 – when it was thought Mercedes had addressed their shortcomings.
Now with Mercedes have made the realisation their car concept was wrong and having made that key personnel change, with the sideways shuffle between Mike Elliott and James Allison and the carrot that is an eighth world title dangling before him, it’s no surprise Hamilton has re-signed with the Silver Arrows and it won’t be either if he signs on beyond 2026.
That is contrary to what Hamilton himself has said in the past, stating that he’d not be racing in Formula One into his 40s. He will be 41 when his new deal with Mercedes expires at the end of 2025 and if the likes of fellow GOAT-like athletes in LeBron James and Roger Federer are anything to go by, why not continue while you’re competitive?
Arguably one of Hamilton’s fiercest teammates in Fernando Alonso, with whom he drove in that stellar rookie season, is currently 42 years old and is enjoying an F1 career renaissance being in the competitive Aston Martin. Then there’s the case (despite the eras being very different) of the legendary Juan-Manuel Fangio being the oldest driver to have won a world championship, winning his fifth and final title in 1957 at the age of 46.
Coming so close now to that eighth title, it would be remiss not to want to see Hamilton eclipse that ultimate figure, unless you’re a Michael Schumacher fan and wish for the record to remain joint between the two all-time legends of the sport.
Whether that can be achieved before the end of 2025 is the in the hands of team with whom Hamilton’s placed his longstanding loyalty with to beat the incumbent juggernauts in Verstappen and Red Bull.
Or at least give the seven-time world champion the faith, like when he was lured to Brackley in 2013 that the next rules cycle will see Mercedes the ones to beat.
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