What Hamilton's new contract means for his long-term F1 future, and Mercedes right now

For 38 days at the start of 2021, Formula 1 was in a highly unusual place. Its reigning world champion, after securing his seventh title, was without a contract and yet to be officially driving in the new campaign.

That changed when Lewis Hamilton’s 2021 deal was announced on 8 February and after Mercedes’ proclamation last Saturday, F1 knows its biggest star is committed to the three-pointed star until the end of 2023.

“I love racing,” Hamilton said at the Red Bull Ring after his two-year deal was revealed. “This is what I was born to do. I still feel fit, I still feel as committed as ever. So, I didn’t see a reason to stop.”

These words and the fresh contract show that Hamilton is still motivated, still committed. He’s got the intense fight with another team that he’s often said he desires, even if there’s a sense he preferred the fight with Red Bull when things were much more level-pegging at the start of the campaign, when Hamilton scored three wins to Max Verstappen’s one, rather than the recent five-race run of Red Bull success. How a Hamilton victory on home turf at another previous Mercedes stronghold, Silverstone, would go down next is fairly obvious, as would a fourth-straight Verstappen triumph…

But for Hamilton, there’s a much bigger factor to consider when looking at the context surrounding his latest Mercedes contract, which will take him past a decade spent at the Silver/Black Arrows squad. And it’s the key message contained in its current livery.

“It’s what’s coming up, it’s the work that we’re doing as a sport in terms of trying to make it a more diverse and inclusive space,” he explains. “I’ve been a part of the start of that, and I want to continue forwards with that.”

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

Photo by: Alessio Morgese

Hamilton’s laudable push to help increase diversity in motorsport, kickstarted by his support for the Black Lives Matter campaign for global racial equality, has been an important part of the recent programmes and commitments F1 and other motorsport entities have enacted. His new contract keeps him in the spotlight for longer, able to use his power (which as F1’s best-known and most successful driver is considerable) and influence to try and ensure this translate into lasting change.

That will take time, an element central to any contract discussions. Hamilton says the negotiations over his new deal were “a lot smoother than it was in December and January” – which relates to being able to deal with Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff directly than via Zoom in the winter, during which both Hamilton and his boss had contracted COVID.

Wolff says there were “no sticking points” in the talks this time around – because the central parts of the contract are apparently the same as they agreed at the start of the year.

By committing until the end of 2023, Hamilton will get to sample F1’s latest car-design evolution, witness how that changes the championship, as well as continue to provide a benchmark for the new generation to measure against

“There was no difficult decision around money or term,” says Wolff. “It was more around the joint activities that we want to deploy, continue our foundation work and carve that out in the right way.”

At the end of 2023, Hamilton will be just a week from turning 39. It’s natural to wonder if this will be his last F1 contract.

The option for him to retire – either at the contract’s stated end point or earlier, as Nico Rosberg successfully did despite having committed to racing for Mercedes beyond 2016 – surely remains, and Wolff admits the pair discussed this as part of their negotiations (Hamilton was rather more coy on this topic when he spoke). But F1 racing careers are longer than ever now – with two of Hamilton’s current peers still around from three driver generations ago.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images

By committing until the end of 2023, Hamilton will get to sample F1’s latest car-design evolution, witness how that changes the championship, as well as continue to provide a benchmark for the new generation to measure against.

The world is also surely going to be a different place in two years’ time, as the COVID threat (hopefully) recedes for good. But it’s interesting to note that Wolff’s contract as Mercedes’ F1 team principal will also expire at the same time as Hamilton’s new deal, so the intrigue and speculation about both their futures will return in the not-to-distant future.

The 2023 end date will also provide a key snapshot into how Hamilton’s driving powers are performing the deeper he goes into an illustrious career. His 2018 drives against a potent Sebastian Vettel/Ferrari package were utterly brilliant, but three years later and he’s already made two errors (at Imola and in Baku) of the kind that F1 hasn’t seen since he was working up to become the championship’s undisputed top star. If they are mere blips or the start of the trend, we’ll know by the end of 2023.

F1 will also understand how the next chapter in the Mercedes dream team success story plays out. The opening acts have already started, with Red Bull recently having the clear upper hand. But this year is unique thanks to the car design restrictions and the 2022 reset is looming.

Mercedes will enter that season with two of the key players in its era of domination locked in to continue their journey: the boss and star driver. But what of the rest? A group of its ultra-successful engine engineers have joined Red Bull Powertrains, with Mercedes High Performance Powertrains boss Andy Cowell’s exit announced last summer. Then there’s Hamilton’s 2022 team-mate.

Wolff has said that the decision on Mercedes' second driver “is going to be made during the summer”. But, in seasonal terms at least, that is nearly halfway gone.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 2nd position, and Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, 3rd position, congratulate each other in Parc Ferme

Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images

Intriguingly, with Hamilton’s signature secured, there’s an argument that he may now have little or no say in who joins him on the startline of whatever season-opener location F1 arranges for 2022. His words ahead of the Styrian Grand Prix heavily suggest he wants Valtteri Bottas to continue, rather than George Russell promoted from Williams…

A Hamilton-Russell line-up is a promoter’s dream – both for Silverstone, which bets heavily on a home F1 hero being successful to help it change its fortunes, and for F1 overall. But Hamilton’s new commitment alone is a major boost for the championship. The legend goes on and with each passing year and success, it lowers the chances of his records being bettered – not that that matters to Hamilton.

"I hope I have something else exciting to do beyond. But, regardless, no matter what time we stop, I’m going to miss this sport" Lewis Hamilton

But perhaps the most critical part of continuing as a competitor is what it means conceptually: he remains ‘Lewis Hamilton, F1 superstar’.

Active F1 drivers will always resonate with the public more than those that have been successful and moved on. Hamilton’s case is different because he harnesses powers previous F1 dominators did not – with his social media status and reach. There will come a time when he discovers his post-F1 place in the world, but it’s just not yet.

“I hope I have something else exciting to do beyond,” he says. “But, regardless, no matter what time we stop, I’m going to miss this sport.”

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

Photo by: Charles Coates / Motorsport Images