Lewis Hamilton makes retirement intentions clear amid Mercedes F1 woes
Lewis Hamilton has made it clear he won't retire from F1 just yet
PA
Lewis Hamilton has confirmed he has no plans to retire and will instead sign a new contract with Mercedes.
The Brit has endured a difficult season so far, with the Stevenage-born driver sitting fourth in the F1 driver standings.
Hamilton is currently trailing Fernando Alonso, Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen with Mercedes struggling to keep pace with their rivals.
With the Brit sounding increasingly disgruntled, some have wondered if he'll quit F1.
Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes have struggled in F1 this season
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But Hamilton has now set the record straight and confirmed he's set to sign another contract with Mercedes, despite their woes.
"It might be announced at the end of the year, I don't know," he said.
"Honestly, I just don't have any more information for you to share this week. It's with the lawyers, back and forth."
In previous negotiations, Hamilton has often been involved in talks over his future.
This time, however, the 38-year-old has taken a step back and is happy to leave the matter to his legal team.
"I've not been a part of it the whole time," he added. "I've been removed from it from the beginning.
"I wanted to be able to focus on all the other things that I have going on. The team are working on it in the background.
"There's no negotiation left, it's just all the small bits."
Just two years ago, Mercedes were the dominant force in F1.
Ever since Hamilton's controversial defeat in the finale of the 2021 season, however, he's struggled to hit his usual heights.
And the Brit has opened up on the struggles of his side, admitting upgrades on his car may not necessarily lead to an immediate upturn in fortune.
"Anything's possible, but I don't think we have a plan of that sort of leap in place at the moment," he said.
He continued: "The thing we can't see is the airflow throughout the car.
"That is just limited when you look in the wind tunnel because there's only a certain amount you can move the car.
"There's simulations with the new rules that we have, and all the new tools we have had to create and understand the flow structures underneath the car.
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Lewis Hamilton feels Mercedes will get better despite F1 woes
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"All those vortices would blow your mind if you saw what's happening underneath the car, which is a lot different to the previous generations of cars. Working through that just takes time.
"And obviously, you're very limited with resources as well. So you have to be careful which decisions you make.
"If you go full steam ahead in one direction, you could lose weeks of development and it could be tenths of performance, so you have to have to be very methodical in the way they go through that process.
"I wish it was faster but unfortunately, it is not."
And Hamilton insists he, along with George Russell, are 'on the same page' as they look to climb up the standings.
"We had a great meeting just the other day where we had all the heads of departments within the room, George and I, and just making sure we're on the same page," he continued. "There was great communication and we have 100% faith in them. I think, just as a group, we will get to where we need to be. It is just going to take some time."
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