Lewis Hamilton Extends F1 Driver Contract With Mercedes Through 2025
The Mercedes Formula 1 team announced contract extensions Thursday with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell that will keep the team’s current driver lineup in place through 2025.
“We still have unfinished business,” Hamilton told the media after the announcement. “We have a lot of work to do to get ourselves back to the front, but there is no place I would rather be.”
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Financial terms of the contracts were not released.
Hamilton won his first F1 title in 2008 with McLaren. The driver then joined Mercedes for the 2013 season, kicking off a historic run of six titles in seven years. Hamilton has won 82 races with Mercedes, and his 103 career wins overall is a record and 12 more than Michael Schumacher. Hamilton and Schumacher are the only F1 drivers with seven championships.
Hamilton lost the 2021 F1 title to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen during a controversial final race to the season. Red Bull has dominated the F1 circuit ever since, winning 29 of 34 races, including all 13 in 2023. The only Mercedes victory during that time was by Russell at the Brazilian Grand Prix last November.
At 38, Hamilton is the second oldest F1 driver this year after 42-year-old Fernando Alonso, who drives for the Aston Martin team.
Russell joined Mercedes’ junior program in 2017 as an 18-year-old and had a stint at Williams before being paired with Hamilton in 2022. “It’s been great to work with everybody at Brackley and Brixworth to make progress with our car and push forward our development,” Russell said in a statement. “We have made some significant steps over the last 18 months and are only getting stronger as a team.”
Verstappen is running away with the F1 title this year, while Hamilton sits in fourth and Russell in seventh. Mercedes is second in the constructor standings behind Red Bull.
Hamilton ranked No. 19 last year in Sportico’s look at the world’s highest-paid athletes with $54 million, including $42 million in salary and bonuses and $12 million off the track from sponsors like Puma, Monster Energy, Police and IWC. He has earned an estimated $640 million in his career through the end of 2022, which is 17th all time.
“Continuing with our current driver lineup was a straightforward decision,” Toto Wolff, Mercedes team CEO, said in a statement. “Our partnership with Lewis is one of the most successful in the sport’s history. It was always a formality that we would continue together, and it’s energizing for us all to be confirming that publicly.”
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