Despite his problems with the W14, and yet to sign a new contract, Lewis Hamilton vows to remain at Mercedes "until the end of days".

Even while he was still winning titles with the German team, sections of the media were forever linking Hamilton with other teams, most notably Ferrari. Indeed, even in recent weeks, as it appeared everyone wanted out of Maranello, according to that same media, the seven-time champ was still being linked with the Italian giant.

However, speaking to reporters in Melbourne today, Hamilton insists that e will see out his career with the Silver Arrows.

"I feel amazing about it," he responded when asked about his future at Brackley. "I continue to feel very much at home," he continued, "it's family.

"I see myself being with Mercedes until my last days, to be honest," he added. "If you look at the legends, like Sir Stirling Moss was with Mercedes until the end of days. That's been the dream for me, to one day have that, or, I have that, so just continuing on with that and just continue to build with the brand.

"I've got some amazing allies within the team, I've got great relationships here. I think just for me personally, as long as I continue to help the team, as long as I can continue to help drive the team forwards and help contribute, then that's where I want to stay.

"If there's ever a point where I feel I'm not able to do that, then it's time for a youngster to come in and take my seat. But I'm still feeling pretty young and in pretty decent shape."

In terms of the more immediate future, the Briton says he was buoyed by the Jeddah result.

"If you look at the last race, I think it was a decent result given the distance and the pace disadvantage we had in qualifying," he said. "We still managed to get fourth and fifth and we're second in the Constructors' Championship at the moment. We beat the Ferraris, who have definitely started with a better package than we have.

"This weekend I think I'm just hoping for some rain, if I'm really honest," he admitted. "It would make it a little bit more exciting for us from my point of view. I'm just hoping the gap isn't a second and I hope that we can just hit the ground running with the set-up."

The Briton was also keen to pay tribute to his teammate, while clarifying a comment he had made about their different set-ups in Jeddah.

"Obviously George did a fantastic job all weekend, put the car exactly where it needed to be," he said. "I struggled a little bit with the balance that I had.

"I think from my choice of words over the weekend I really want to reiterate how great a job he did. The thing that I was commenting on was there's one specific thing we can change in the suspension which you have to do over Friday night and when you make that change once you start FP3 you can't change it for the rest of the weekend. So when you do make that change you're basically rolling the dice, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

"I've done it in the past and sometimes it hasn't worked and sometimes it has. It worked great for George and he did a great job.

"The thing that I was lacking in the race was a lot of front end which that set-up gives you, so in hindsight that would have been great.

"However we took lots of learnings from it, I think race pace was quite decent, particularly in the second stint, and for us to move forwards and get a fourth and a fifth I think was great points for the team and a great result considering where we are in terms of performance deficit."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by alvarezh3, 30/03/2023 18:49

"Gracias Kenji muy bien ! :-)"

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2. Posted by BrightonCorgi, 30/03/2023 13:22

"@kenji - I think there are more suitors for Hamilton's services that it appears. As much as he costs, he brings in a tidy some with the media, sponsors, and merchandising. He's terrific at developing the car and still has plenty of race winning drives in him.

I'd love to see him at Aston Martin before he retires. They need a British driver at the point they can win regularly. "

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3. Posted by kenji, 30/03/2023 12:14

"From a cynics POV one might venture the question...'who would want to have him on their team'? He is in the back end of his career and by anticipating the exorbitant sum he would be seeking I'm sure most teams would be hestitant to make him an offer. Yes, he's still a very good driver but so are many others. The current crop of young drivers hold a lot of future potential and make a far better value investment. Despite all Hamilton's protestations and the 'invocation' of set up luck, Russell is slowly but surely shading him and all this talk about a future brand ambassadorship is just him trying to maintain a profile whilst pulling in big bucks. The fact that Alonso is still performing superbly despite being over 40 is quite unique IMO. Hamilton is no Alonso, who is a one off and it is both exciting and a privilege to witness his ongoing challenge. Gracias Fernando muy bien"

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Hamilton at Mercedes "until the end of days"

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