Lewis Hamilton extends Mercedes stay by signing new one-year deal as F1 world champion seeks a record-eighth title in 2021

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton has penned a new deal extending his stay at Mercedes as he aims for title No 8 eight in 2021.

There had been rumours circulating around Hamilton’s future in the sport over recent months following reported delays to contract negotiations, but an agreement was found on Monday just six weeks after his current deal expired.

The 36-year-old ended the season with a third-place finish at Abu Dhabi in December after confirming his record equalling seventh world championship at Turkey in November.

The Brit had spoken for ages about hopefully tying up a new contract before Christmas but when this failed to materialise rumours began to mount up surrounding his future.

Confirmation that a deal had been signed broke on Monday morning putting a stop to rumours that Hamilton could leave the sport. He will line-up beside team-mate Valtteri Bottas for a fifth year running.

Mercedes released a statement that states diversity and inclusion in motorsport had a ‘significant part’ part to play during both Hamilton and the teams negotiations.

‘I am excited to be heading into my ninth season with my Mercedes team-mates,’ Hamilton said. ‘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.’

The current world champion has always expressed his interest with staying with the team and it looked like that was set to happen when Toto Wolff committed his future to the them for another three years.

‘We have always been aligned with Lewis that we would continue, but the very unusual year we had in 2020 meant it took some time to finish the process,’ said Wolff. 

‘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.’

Hamilton will meet up with Mercedes in the coming weeks before heading to Bahrain at the end of March for the season opener in his bid to beat great Michael Schumacher record of seven drivers’ championships.