Lewis Hamilton Issues Retirement Update Amid Tough Year As He ...

Lewis Hamilton issues retirement update amid tough year as he makes 'mission' statement

Lewis Hamilton has issued a defiant response to retirement speculation, insisting he is "still on the mission" and does not "feel like I have to give it up any time soon"

CommentsSportMatthew Cooper Sports Writer12:02, 09 Aug 2022Updated 12:03, 09 Aug 2022Lewis Hamilton: It's difficult to imagine life without racing

Seven-time F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton has revealed he is considering extending his contract with Mercedes, amid speculation he could retire at the end of the season.

After narrowly missing out on another world title win last year in controversial circumstances, Hamilton has endured a disappointing season so far. The 37-year-old is yet to win a single race and currently sits 112 points behind leader Max Verstappen.

However, despite suggestions he could walk away from the sport at the end of the season or when his current deal expires in 2023, Hamilton has insisted he is "still on the mission" and does not "feel like I have to give it up any time soon". In an interview with Vanity Fair, he said: "I'll be lying if I said that I hadn't thought about extending.

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"I'm still on the mission, I'm still loving driving, I'm still being challenged by it. So I don't really feel like I have to give it up any time soon.

"I'm built different. I mean, I was built for this. It reminds me that people still don't know me. Even after all these years. People still don't know. So, all right, I'll prove you wrong again."

Sebastian Vettel recently announced that he will be retiring from the sport at the end of the year and when asked recently if his decision had caused Hamilton to think about his future, the Brit replied: "It doesn't. It's a reminder that I am in that part of my career that the people I came up with and race with for so long are starting to stop.

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"Before you know it, Fernando [Alonso] will not be there and then who is after that? I will be the oldest I guess.

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"It has not made me think about that because I am thinking about how I can improve this car, what the next step is we need to get this team winning again, what is the road map to winning another world championship."

And Mercedes chief Toto Wolff recently revealed he had spoken to Hamilton about a contract extension, saying: "We talked a few weeks ago about how long a partnership can go and the figure discussed was about five to 10 years, so I think we can go to 400 [races]. Someone said you have to win the eighth [world title], so why not 10?"

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