Formula One champion lewis Hamilton has ended months of stalling and deliberation by finally signing a new contract with Mercedes.
The four-time world champion penned a new deal with Mercedes until 2020, when the current set of F1 regulations end. No figures were given in a Mercedes statement on Thursday, but it is reportedly estimated at 40 million pounds ($52 million) per year.
"It's good to put pen to paper, announce it, and then get on with business as usual," Hamilton said. "We are on the same wavelength both on and off track, and I am looking forward to winning more."
Mercedes has won the past four drivers' and constructors' championships — with Hamilton clinching three of them — but this season is testing the Silver Arrows team.
Hamilton trails Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel by eight points, and Mercedes is 20 points behind Ferrari in the constructors' championship.
The 33-year-old Hamilton has won 65 races — 44 with Mercedes — and secured 124 career podiums. He is the F1 record holder with 76 pole positions. His number of wins is second only to seven-time F1 champion Michael Schumacher's tally of 91.
"I'm very confident that Mercedes is the right place to be over the coming years," Hamilton said. "Although we have enjoyed so much success together since 2013, Mercedes is hungrier than ever. The competitive passion that burns bright inside me is shared by every single member of this group."
Hamilton joined Mercedes in 2013, after six seasons with Mclaren.
The British driver won his first F1 title with Mclaren, in 2008, at the age of 23.
Pressure from vettel
Sebastian Vettel needs to keep the pressure firmly on lewis Hamilton at this weekend's German Grand Prix.
At the midway point of the Formula One season — the 11th race out of 21 — Vettel holds only an eight-point lead over rival lewis Hamilton in an intriguing title contest.
Vettel started strongly, then Hamilton took over, and now Vettel appears to be in the ascendancy again.
While he leads Hamilton only 4-3 in wins this season, Vettel's most recent victory was particularly poignant seeing it was at Hamilton's home track at Silverstone — where Hamilton has enjoyed huge success. Vettel's win there heaped more misery on the British driver, considering he'd experienced a rare retirement at the Austrian GP one week earlier.