Lewis Hamilton has signed a new deal with Mercedes that will keep him with the team until 2025, as well as George Russell. Given the amount of speculation surrounding his departure, Hamilton insisted that he is not doing this for “revenge” but that he does have “unfinished business” with Mercedes.
The months of speculation behind Hamilton’s contract renewal are finally over and it was frankly ridiculous that they were happening at all. The ties to Ferrari were ludicrous considering that they aren’t in a better position than Mercedes to help Hamilton to achieve his eighth world title, though Ferrari did admit to proposing Hamilton an offer. Obviously, Red Bull was unlikely to be an option not only due to their focus on Max Verstappen, but also the result of the 2021 season, though Hamilton insists that “that is in the past.”
“On 2021, I am not really a revenge person, and it is not about revenge,” Hamilton explained to the media.
“That is in the past, there is nothing you can do about the past, but what we can do is work harder, be more precise and be better moving forwards. I truly believe that with this team, we can win more championships and races together, so that is where all my energy is going.
“Mercedes have supported me since I was 13 and we still have unfinished business. We are in this together and we’ve got a lot of work to do to get ourselves back to the front, but there’s no place I’d rather be.
“The goal is simple, setting the target [to be in championship contention] is simple. But achieving that target is not, so it is going to take all of us pulling together.
“Every team and driver here is working so hard to get on top of the aero package they have and pull everyone together and have everyone firing on all cylinders, which is not easy in a large team.
“It takes consistent work, and from a driver’s perspective, you’ve got to make sure that you perform every weekend. Even though I have been driving and racing all these years, I still feel like I can improve each weekend and that’s what I love about this sport.
“You are never going to reach perfection, but the pursuit of perfection is one of the most exciting things about what we do.”
