'I'm enjoying my time more than ever’ - Lewis Hamilton hints at F1 stay beyond the end of next season
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Updated 24/07/2022 at 20:11 GMT
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell delivered Mercedes' best weekend of the 2022 Formula One season when the seven-time champion finished second with Russell in third. Speaking after the race, Hamilton and Russell celebrated their achievement, whilst the seven-time world champion indicated he intends to carry on in F1 beyond the end of next season.
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Lewis Hamilton was pleased with his team’s performance at the French Grand Prix on Sunday, and has hinted at plans to extend his F1 stay beyond the end of next season.
Hamilton took advantage of Charles Leclerc’s early exit to secure second place for the German team, and his stablemate George Russell cleverly pounced late on to take the third podium spot.
Speaking after the race, Hamilton admitted he was enjoying his time in F1 "more than ever," hinting at long-term plans to remain in the sport.
“I still feel fresh and there is plenty of fuel in the tank,” he said.
“I am enjoying the process and arriving everyday and working with this group of people and I am enjoying working with this sport.
"There are some great people in this sport and I am enjoying my time more than ever.”
The result was Mercedes’ best performance of the season so far, and speaking to Sky Sports, Hamilton was obviously content.
He said: "That was actually a tough race because my drinks bottle didn’t work, but what a great result, considering we’ve been so far off these guys all weekend.
"Reliability is one thing that my team’s been amazing at, so a huge congratulations to the team back at the factory, the team here, who without them we couldn’t get this podium."
Russell added: "I'm sweating and a bit knackered now to be honest.
"The pace was strong but we really struggled with the warm up on that restart and Checo was all over me. I was glad to see that chequered flag and come home with P3. Two podiums for Mercedes is great."
Team principal Toto Wolff was a little more cautious.
"We need to stay humble. Our car is just not good at the moment to fight with the guys in front; I'm always a little bit pessimistic because I need to be,” he explained.
"We're just lacking six or seven tenths to the leaders, and whilst we have stabilised in the race and Verstappen hadn't been gaining more ground, he was also looking after his tyres.
"Overall the team effort was great, the drivers did a really good job. George was clever and fast, Lewis the lion who was just always there. We're doing the maximum at the moment on race day."
Wolff was asked about Hamilton's attitude, and the Austrian said the pair of them had dealt well with recalibrating their expectations.
He said: “Sometimes we've been talking about what would happen if we are not winning again and how would we recover. We had some really difficult times at the beginning of the year, but in a way we have all set into the situation that we [are in] now.
“And he is absolutely on it. He keeps pushing the team, driving the car quickly also. He has a positive mindset, even if the days are really grim like yesterday, we are nine-tenths off. He never stops pushing.”
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