Lewis Hamilton rubs salt in Ferrari's wounds after committing to new Mercedes deal

Lewis Hamilton has signed a new two-year deal with Mercedes, ending any lingering hopes that Ferrari had to poach the seven-time world champion. The Scuderia spent the early part of the summer chasing the signature of the legendary Briton with little success, but after putting pen to paper on a new deal he admitted "there's no place I'd rather be".

The 38-year-old’s contract situation has dominated the headlines throughout the season, but before the race for his signature hotted up it was expected that Hamilton would commit to a straightforward renewal of his current terms at Mercedes. 

However, earlier this summer a Daily Mail report stated that Ferrari were willing to offer Hamilton a salary in excess of £40million to drive for the team in 2024 and beyond with Carlos Sainz likely to leave the team in this event. 

Hamilton was unmoved by Ferrari’s offer and elected not to swap Brackley for Maranello, instead committing his future to the Silver Arrows for another two years. The legendary Brit won six of his seven World Championships with the team after joining from McLaren back in 2013.

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Addressing his new contract ahead of the Italian Grand Prix, Hamilton said: "You're all stuck with me for a little bit longer. 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."

The Stevenage-born driver was then asked if he had any doubts about the new deal, to which he responded: "No. I definitely wanted to continue. I mean, I think in life there's always ups 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."