Mercedes has announced that it has agreed a new one-year deal with seven-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton, thereby completing the 2021 F1 grid.

A significant part of the new agreement builds upon the joint commitment to greater diversity and inclusion in motorsport that was made last year by Hamilton and Mercedes. This will take the form of a joint charitable foundation, which will have the mission of supporting greater diversity and inclusion in all its forms in motorsport.

Hamilton made his F1 debut with Mercedes engine customer team McLaren in 2007 and has been powered in all his 266 Grands Prix by Mercedes-Benz engines.

He joined the Mercedes works team in 2013 and has since won 74 F1 races as well as six Drivers' Championships with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team. In 2020, he broke Michael Schumacher's win record and is now all-time race win record holder in Formula One.

"I am excited to be heading into my ninth season with my Mercedes teammates," said Hamilton. "Our team has achieved incredible things together and we look forward to building on our success even further, while continuously looking to improve, both on and off the track.

"I'm equally determined to continue the journey we started to make motorsport more diverse for future generations and I am grateful that Mercedes has been extremely supportive of my call to address this issue. I'm proud to say we are taking that effort further this year by launching a foundation dedicated to diversity and inclusion in the sport. I am inspired by all that we can build together and can't wait to get back on the track in March."

"We have always been aligned with Lewis that we would continue," added Toto Wolff, "but the very unusual year we had in 2020 meant it took some time to finish the process. Together, we have decided to extend the sporting relationship for another season and to begin a longer-term project to take the next step in our shared commitment to greater diversity within our sport.

"Lewis's competitive record stands alongside the best the sports world has ever seen, and he is a valued ambassador for our brand and our partners. The story of Mercedes and Lewis has written itself into the history books of our sport over the past eight seasons, and we are hungry to compete and to add more chapters to it."

"We're very happy to keep the most successful F1 driver of the current era in the most successful F1 team of the current era," said Markus Schafer, Non-Executive Chairman. "Lewis is not only an incredibly talented driver; he also works very hard for his achievements and is extremely hungry. He shares his passion for performance with the entire team which is why this collaboration has become so successful. But Lewis is also a warm-hearted personality who cares deeply about the world around him and wants to make an impact. As a company, Mercedes-Benz shares this sense of responsibility and is proud to commit to a new, joint foundation to improve diversity in motorsport. Opening the sport to under-represented groups will be important for its development in the future and we're determined to make a positive impact."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by BillH, 11/02/2021 16:27

"This is excellent news for Mercedes' competitors:

A significant part of the new agreement builds upon the joint commitment to greater diversity and inclusion in motorsport that was made last year by Hamilton and Mercedes. This will take the form of a joint charitable foundation, which will have the mission of supporting greater diversity and inclusion in all its forms in motorsport.

Now that Mercedes is hiring based on certain identities of people rather than competence in the first instance, the other teams might be able to catch up by hiring the best people regardless of the identity those people have been classified as by others.

I do feel a bit for McLaren, I mean, they finally get the PU they want and it's not necessarily going to to be developed / maintained by the best possible technical team.

Thank goodness for the engine freeze.

Then again, McLaren have pretty much adopted the same public statements as Merc so...
"

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2. Posted by kenji, 11/02/2021 11:51

"@ Max drives like grandma....Regards Wolff's declaration that there is no such thing as a 'verstappen veto or even a veto over any other driver' is exactly what he would say, irrespective of whether it's the truth or not. Do you really think that he'd publically own the inclusion of that as a condition? Of coursed he wouldn't....IMO of course."

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3. Posted by elsiebc, 09/02/2021 3:18

" "commitment to greater diversity and inclusion in motorsport" Doesn't he get a say in hiring his own physio? Angela couldn't be more white. "

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4. Posted by USA1, 08/02/2021 21:57

"Mercedes now hiring for pit crew, must be transgender 😂😂😂
What has this to do with racing leave politics and church out of formula one please!!!!"

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5. Posted by ChickenFarmerF1, 08/02/2021 20:38

"I would imagine it was a 1 year deal because of the big changes in rules for 2022. Lewis is likely wanting to get some idea of what the cars will be like for next year before committing to racing after this year. Which is smart. If the nature of the cars from next year isn't to his liking, or if he perceives that Merc won't put the resources into it that they have been the last 8 years, he may well want to jump off the train with his 8th WDC, and go do something else."

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6. Posted by Max Drives Like Grandma, 08/02/2021 16:20

"What Brilliant and Fantastic News from Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes today, and for all their fans around the World!

As an unbiased F1 fan who loves all the drivers who came into F1 through their natural talents and not from their father's money nor name, I welcome today's news because this should put an end to all the silly speculation out there, about George Russell and everything else!

For Lewis Hamilton fans, I would predict that this one year contract is solely due to the time constraints and will likely be extended to another one or two years before the end of August this year!
So, if today's excellent news caused some people to choke on their breakfast or lunch, they should perhaps not read too much about this one year contract because I am quite sure that Lewis would love to drive the new Mercedes car next year under the new 2022 regulations! Lewis Hamilton just loves to compete with his rivals and even more when the racing is closer!

So, it's great that Toto has already said that all the false reports about Lewis wanting a veto on his future team mates are incorrect!
To be honest, I think all these negative stories were thrown out there by people with malicious intent, and most of the negative comments about Lewis are simply because of their prejudice against him, whether racial or just hidden as 'opinions'!
The fact that these baseless and unfair negative comments have so much support just shows how much more F1 needs to do to end prejudice racism!

So, Great news today for F1 and Lewis Hamilton fans, but obviously this must have spoilt the whole season for some people! "

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7. Posted by Spindoctor, 08/02/2021 14:43

"@Pawsche
There's no indication that as an organisation Mercedes (or Mercedes AMG F1) will go either "woke" or "broke", on the contrary, nasty surprises aside they will probably continue to excel & prosper....

What you probably call Hamilton & Mercedes "wokeness" is demonstrated by (amongst other things) their commitment to Mulberry Schools Trust's STEM initiative in partnership with AMG Mercedes F1 (as previously reported on Pitpass). This is completely a-political & simply about making it possible for kids from places & backgrounds who would not normally consider F1 or STEM as a career option to gain a foothold and, if they are good enough, to progress into the Sport.

"

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8. Posted by BrightonCorgi, 08/02/2021 14:17

"One more year on Mercedes and then move to Aston Martin or retire."

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9. Posted by Simon in Adelaide, 08/02/2021 13:43

"Only a one year deal eh! Sounds like Lewis gets to win one more title then George will be in the seat for 2022."

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10. Posted by KKK, 08/02/2021 12:16

"WRONG !!! Sir Lewis should decide, now, if he wants to be a race driver or a politician. Wollf should not have signed him. It now just shows that Hamilton dictates, not Wollf."

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11. Posted by Pawsche, 08/02/2021 11:35

"<i>A significant part of the new agreement builds upon the joint commitment to greater diversity and inclusion in motorsport</i>

Dear God! WTF has this got to do with motor racing? Mercedes need to pay attention to the present, and apparently provable, concept of "Go woke, go broke". I'm astonished that Wolff has indulged Hamilton's very naive politics in this way. As for Hamilton, he should put his idealism to the test by swapping his highly-professional pit crew and engineers with an "ethnically and sexually diverse" group roped in off the street.

The man is a positive genius behind the wheel, but his childish views on politics...?"

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Official: Hamilton agrees one-year deal with Mercedes

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