"I'm going to be here for quite some time," says Lewis Hamilton in reaction to talk of retirement.

One of the side-effects of the lack of racing due to the 'cancellation' of the Saudi and Bahrain events is that it leaves certain sections of the media with little of worth to report on. It is at this stage that some get a little over enthusiastic in terms of content creation.

One of the stories doing the rounds in recent weeks is that Lewis Hamilton is considering calling time on F1, especially if he and Ferrari fail to take a significant step forward this season.

Not so, insists the seven-time world champion.

"I'm still under contract, so everything is 100% clear to me," said the Briton when asked about the rumours. "I'm still focused," he continued, "I'm still motivated, I still love what I do with all my heart, and I'm going to be here for quite some time, so get used to it.

"There's a lot of people that are trying to retire me," he added, "and that's not even on my thoughts. I'm already thinking of what will be next, and planning for the next five years, but yeah, I'm still planning to be here for some time."

While Ferrari has taken a step forward this year, along with Hamilton, the upgrades introduced last time out didn't have the impact that had been hoped for. Asked his expectations for this weekend, at a circuit where he has won seven times before, the Briton said: "There's been a huge amount of work, which we're really grateful for, all the team back at the factory, working incredibly hard to try and analyse where we've been good, where we've not been so good, and we've adjusted processes and approach.

"I'm hoping that we're able to extract more from the car, because I still think we're trying to extract the most from the package that we have," he added.

"Then also just being realistic of where we stand currently, compared to Mercedes for example, but lots can happen, so it's just about trying to extract the most from the car. It probably adjusts each weekend, obviously Mercedes are at the top. McLaren looked incredibly strong last race as well, they took a good step, and obviously Red Bull have made a huge step, so I think we're kind of in and around McLaren and Red Bull.

"We'll see, but I don't know, obviously Mercedes have a big upgrade this weekend, even without an upgrade they were very quick in the last race, and still won the last race. So our focus is just going to be on ourselves, and just trying to optimise, and for me I'm really excited and hope we have a better weekend."

Talking of the media, over the last couple of years a number of former drivers - and team bosses in the wretched Guenther Steiner's case - having turned pundit, and each seems determined to be as controversial as possible.

One of Hamilton's fiercest critics has been Jacques Villeneuve, who has claimed the Ferrari driver had it easy when winning his titles with Mercedes and now that he finds himself with an unrelenting teammate he is out of his comfort zone. Indeed, Villeneuve also criticised Hamilton's battle with Charles Leclerc in China, claiming the Briton "destroyed" Ferrari's chances by being overly aggressive.

Asked about Gilles Villeneuve, after whom this circuit is named, Hamilton took the opportunity to repay the compliment to the Canadian legend's son.

"Personally I didn't really know a lot about him, to be honest," said Hamilton of Gilles, who perished in an accident during qualifying at Zolder in 1982. "Obviously I knew about Niki, more so because I got to spend a lot of time with him, and obviously I had to learn and watch him when I was growing up.

"So, whilst reading up on some of the great drivers that have been here, all I really knew is that he was a great driver," he continued. "He seemed to be, from some of the videos, a driver that really was at the edge of his seat, really being able to balance the car as it's moving, which was pretty cool to see.

"And obviously far better than his son," he smiled.

Ouch!