MEXICO CITY: Lewis Hamilton has said he hopes to sign a new multi-year contract with Mercedes and continue racing in Formula One into his forties.
Speaking to reporters ahead of this weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix, the seven-time world champion revealed he was in talks with the team about another multi-year.
Asked about his future, Hamilton, 37, said: “You’re stuck with me for quite a bit longer.
“We are going to do another deal. We are going to sit down and discuss it in these next couple of months.”
Hamilton, who will be 38 on January 5, joined Mercedes in 2013 after starting his F1 career with McLaren in 2007.
He won his first title in 2008 and holds records for most victories (103) and pole positions (103), but this year faces completing a season without winning a single race for the first time.
“I want to keep racing,” he said.
“I love what I do. I’ve been doing it for 30 years and I don’t feel that I should have to stop. I think I am currently still earning my keep. I still want to do better.
“I could stop now — and I have lots of other things in the pipeline that I will be super-focused and super-busy with — (but) I’m here for the sheer love of working in the organization that I’m in.
“Mercedes-Benz have stuck with me through thick and thin. They stuck with me through being expelled at school.
“They stuck with me through everything that was going on through 2020. They’ve stuck with me through my mistakes and through the ups and downs.”
He declined to consider if he could be described as Formula One’s ‘greatest of all time’ driver.
When asked by American television host Jimmy Kilmmel, he replied: “I know what I am. I know how good I am, but I don’t really like to talk about it.
“I like to just do the talking on the track.
“That’s what my dad always said. When I was a kid when we were racing, we were on the receiving end of a lot of discrimination because we were the only people of color on the racetrack.
“My dad said just do my talking on the track. So, even today I don’t feel like I need to say anything. I just let my what I’m doing on the circuit, what I’m doing off the circuit, kind of talk.”
After a disappointing start to the season, when his Mercedes car suffered chronic ‘porpoising’ and bouncing problems, Hamilton has gradually clawed his way back to form and led last Sunday’s United States Grand Prix before finishing second behind world champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull.
Mercedes team chief Toto Wolff said: “Lewis drove an outstanding race to finish second — we need to keep this momentum going. While we didn’t quite have the pace to win, it was great to be in the mix at the front and leading the race.”
He added that Mercedes felt cautiously optimistic about this Sunday’s race although Hamilton suggested a race win this year was unlikely.
Hamilton also made clear that he had no interest in being handed the 2021 title by the International Motoring Federation (FIA) if it was as a result of Red Bull’s breach of last year’s budget cap, an offense for which no punishment has been agreed or announced.
“When I heard about this cost thing, for sure, it brings up a little bit of emotion because you kind of bury it and move on and then it comes back up — and it’s like another kick,” he said.
“But I’ve moved on from it. I refuse to live in the past.”
Hamilton hoping to race on past 40 with new Mercedes contract
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Hamilton hoping to race on past 40 with new Mercedes contract
- The seven-time world champion revealed he was in talks with the team about another multi-year x
- The seven-time world champion revealed he was in talks with the team about another multi-year Asked about his future, Hamilton, 37, said: "You're stuck with me for quite a bit longer”
Marmoush, Salah strike as Egypt edge out holders Ivory Coast in quarter-final
- Egypt wasted little time in taking the lead as Marmoush scored in the fourth minute
- That set up a siege of the Egyptian goal in the final 15 minutes but they held out to advance
AGADIR, Morocco: Omar Marmoush netted the opener and Mohamed Salah scored the decisive goal as Egypt ended Ivory Coast’s reign with a narrow 3-2 triumph in Saturday’s Africa Cup of Nations quarter-final.
Center back Rami Rabia was the other scorer for the Egyptians, who had little possession at the Grande Stade Agadir but took their chances with clinical precision and held on grimly to book a semifinal meeting with Senegal on Wednesday.
An own goal from Ahmed Fatouh and a late effort by Guela Doue proved insufficient for the Ivory Coast, winners of the tournament on home soil two years ago but now deposed as African champions.
Egypt, who have won a record seven Cup of Nations titles, wasted little time in taking the lead as Marmoush scored in the fourth minute after Hamdi Fathy pinched the ball from Franck Kessie in the midfield, allowing Emam Ashour to thread a pinpoint ball to the sprinting Marmoush. He still needed to shrug off the attentions of defender Odilon Kossounou before slotting home.
But it quickly became clear the Ivorians were going to dominate possession, showing much more physical strength on the ball but without setting up clear chances.
Egypt went 2-0 up in the 32nd minute when Rabia rose above the defenders to head his side further ahead from a corner.
The Ivory Coast, who had 70 percent of possession in the first half, reduced the deficit eight minutes later when teenager Yann Diomande’s freekick near the corner took a slight brush off Kossounou’s head and ricocheted off the knee of full back Fatouh and into the net.
SALAH FINISHED OFF CLEVER MOVE
The Ivorians had come from 2-0 down to beat Gabon 3-2 earlier in the tournament but hopes of turning the scoreline around soon after the re-start were stymied by a simply created, but superbly finished, goal for Salah seven minutes after the break.
Rabia was well inside his own half when he chipped the ball over the top of the Ivorian defensive line, allowing Ashour to run onto it and hit an accurate pass with the outside of his right boot into the path of Salah to score.
An Ivorian comeback was still on when Doue touched home at the end of a goalmouth scramble in the 73rd minute.
That set up a siege of the Egyptian goal in the final 15 minutes but they held out to advance.
Earlier on Saturday, Nigeria overpowered Algeria 2-0 in Marrakech and will take on hosts Morocco in the other semifinal.
