Hamilton warns rivals he will 'be a machine' in 2020

Current world champion Lewis Hamilton has issued a warning to fellow competitors ahead of the coming season as he plans to "be a machine" and on "another level" this year.

The Mercedes driver will look to equal Michael Schumacher's all-time title record of seven world championships and is just seven victories short of Schumacher's record of 91 race victories.

In a recent Instagram post, Hamilton posted a picture at his come, hugging a wooden pillar. He explains in the post of how will bounce back stronger than ever into this season.

"I am at peace when I'm here, can focus and build my mind and body so that I can come back year on year," he wrote.

"I'm going to be a machine this year, on another level than ever before."

Should Hamilton manage to secure his seventh title this season, he will statistically become the most successful driver in the history of the sport.

Like current teammate Valtteri Bottas, Hamilton is out of contract with Mercedes at the end of this season, but recent rumours suggest that he is on the verge of signing a new two-year contract with the team.

It is understood that Hamilton held recent talks with Ferrari as a possibility of a future switch to the Italian team could become a reality, but this remains unlikely thanks to the team's four-year extension to the contract of current driver Charles Leclerc.

Both Hamilton and Mercedes will look to achieve title success this season before the change of regulations in 2021, as Mercedes could achieve a clean sweep of seven successive titles since the previous engine regulations in 2014.