Lewis Hamilton says "unfinished business" at Mercedes in the wake of the team's struggles since last year motivated him to extend his stay at the Brackley squad for another two seasons.
On Thursday at Monza, Mercedes announced that Hamilton and teammate George Russell had both put pen to paper and agreed to remain with the German outfit until the end of 2025.
The renewed contracts for both drivers have come amid a second year of subdued results – by Mercedes' standards – for the team that reigned supreme in F1 from 2014 until 2021.
During that incredibly successful period, Mercedes claimed eight consecutive world titles, with six of its championships delivered by Hamilton.
But the going has gotten tough for the Silver Arrows outfit, with misguided engineering choices weighing heavily on its results in 2022 and striking the team down to third in the Constructors' standings behind Red Bull and Ferrari.
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This year, Mercedes has gradually crawled back into contention, although it is still no match for the unassailable Red Bull powerhouse up ahead.
But Hamilton is convinced that Mercedes can bridge the gap to its rival and the Briton felt compelled to play his part.
"You're all stuck with me for a little bit longer," he jokingly told the media on Thursday. "I couldn't be happier to be extending with this team. We've had such an incredible journey together.
"Mercedes have supported me since I was 13, a long trip and we still have unfinished business, so we are in this together.
"We've got a lot of work to do to get ourselves back to the front, but there's no place I would rather be."
©Mercedes
For all the – mostly silly – speculation surrounding Hamilton's future, the 38-year-old said there were no doubts about his desire to remain with his surrogate family.
"No. I definitely wanted to continue," he said. "I mean, I think in life there's always up and downs, like last year was a difficult year.
"I'm pretty sure everyone was questioning whether they wanted to continue because it's tough at the top and it's such a tough sport.
"But that feeling quickly goes away and you put your mind and your energy into being the best you can be and dealing with the situations that you're faced with.
"I'm really proud of what we achieved last year to get through it. We started on the wrong foot this year, to have some really great results; we're second in the constructors' championship.
"The plan is to keep that and then close the gap to the guy ahead."
©RedBull
Hamilton said that his frequent visits to Brackely since last year and the time he spent interacting with Mercedes' engineers helped him realize the magnitude of the team's commitment to improving its performance.
"It's what you see; it's not necessarily what someone says, it's the work that you're doing. It's the meetings we've been having with all the engineers," he explained.
"James Allison and the whole group back at the factory, the heads of all the departments coming together and talking and just really engaging better than ever before about where we are, the mistakes we've made, why we made those decisions, why we won't make them again, and where we're going.
"[It's] having that confidence in each other that we are the best at what we do, and when we come together and given time, we will get to where we need to be."
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