Hamilton hints at Mercedes stay but claims assessing future is "difficult"

Lewis Hamilton has admitted that it's difficult to say how the coming years in Formula 1 will look for him, all the while hinting that he will remain at Mercedes. Hamilton joined Mercedes in 2013 and has since won two world championships. 

Vying for a third championship with the German team, Hamilton is locked in battle with Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari. Hamilton has been linked to Vettel's seat when his contract with Mercedes runs out at the end of 2018, with Vettel coming in to take up the vacancy at Mercedes.

When asked how he thinks his future will shape up, he said: "It’s difficult to say. I’m so happy where I am, when I joined this team, I couldn’t have imagined, it being – and this is regardless of our results – I couldn’t have dreamed of it being better.

"I’m pretty sure there’s no other team that has this environment. Pretty certain of it. If I was to move, I’d have to try take what we have here and implement it somewhere else, but do I really want to do that? I mean, of course I look at other teams that I’ve admired. I look at Williams and think ‘how cool would it be one day to drive for Williams and help them get back to the top’.

"But I don’t have a magic board and how long that would take or if that’s even possible, but just because I admire Frank [Williams] and the Williams team for its history. McLaren; I’ve been there obviously and done that, had a great, great experience with them. [There's] no other team except for Ferrari obviously that could ever be interesting. Right now I love being here, I love the people that I work for, the people I work with, and what the company represents."

Fergal Walsh