Retirement not on the horizon for Hamilton: ‘I’m planning to be here for some time’

Lewis Hamilton says he is still under contract with Ferrari for 2027 and plans on racing in Formula 1 for a number of years to come.

The seven-time world champion joined Ferrari at the start of 2025 after having previously only signed a one-plus-one contract with Mercedes as his former team kept its options open relating to its driver line-up. Now midway through his second season for the Scuderia, 41-year-old Hamilton says he will definitely still be with the team next year, and plans on extending his stay in F1.

“I'm still in contract, so everything is 100% clear to me,” Hamilton said. “I'm still focused, 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, and that's not even in my thoughts. I'm already thinking of what will be next, and planning for the next five years, but I'm still planning to be here for some time.”

Hamilton arrives at this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix sitting fifth in the drivers’ championship, level on points with Lando Norris and eight points behind teammate Charles Leclerc. After a disappointing final result for Ferrari in Miami, where Hamilton finished sixth and Leclerc classified eighth, Hamilton says the team has been seeking better execution between races.

“Hopefully a better weekend, I think there's a lot of learnings taken from the first races, and particularly from the last race," he said. "There's been a huge amount of work, which I’m really grateful for. All the team back at the factory have been working incredibly hard to try and analyze where we've been good, where we've not been so good, and we've adjusted processes and approach.

“So I'm hoping that we're able to extract more from the car, because I still think we're still trying to extract the most from the package that we have. And 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 this weekend.

“[The competitive order] probably adjusts each weekend. Obviously you know 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 I would say – which order it is, we'll see.

“Obviously Mercedes have a big upgrade this weekend, so 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 optimize, and for me I'm really excited to hopefully have a better weekend.”