Lewis Hamilton says he is under contract at Ferrari until at least the end of 2027 and has no intention of walking away from Formula 1 any time soon. The 41-year-old made the point sharply on Thursday in Montreal, after a season that has already invited speculation over whether the sport’s most successful driver is nearing the finish.
“I’m still under contract, so everything is 100 per cent clear to me,” Hamilton said, before adding: “I’m still focused, I’m still motivated. I still love what I do with all my heart, and I’m going to be here for quite some time, so get used to it.” He also said: “There’s a lot of people that are trying to retire me, and that’s not even all my thoughts. I’m already thinking of what will be next, and planning for, like, the next five years. But I still plan to be here for some time.”
The comments matter because Hamilton’s first season with Ferrari in 2025 has not matched the scale of the move. He joined Ferrari at the start of last year, but this year he failed to finish on the podium in a full season for the first time in his career. That came after a career built on dominance: 105 wins and 104 pole positions, both records, and a reputation that made any decline a public event the moment it began.
Hamilton has, however, already shown what Ferrari hoped the partnership could still produce. He claimed his first podium for the team at the second race in China this season. But the last two races in Japan and Miami exposed the gap he still has to close, with Hamilton lacking pace compared with Charles Leclerc. That contrast has only sharpened the questions around where Ferrari’s project is headed and how quickly it can deliver more than one result in flashes.
Asked in Montreal what success now means to him, Hamilton rejected the idea that it can only be measured in trophies or records. “From the outside world results are what people call success, but I think internally, for me, it’s just progress. If you’re progressing, then you’re succeeding. I don’t really put a lot of pressure on [myself],” he said. He added that he is grateful for his records but does not dwell on them, saying his focus is on “every day, how I tune my brain” and on moving “forwards, not looking what’s behind me.”
Hamilton’s answer also helps explain how he is approaching the rest of the season. He said success is part of the journey, but not the most important part, and that the real test is how a driver gets up, pushes forward and evolves. That is a notably different framing from the one that has followed him for much of his career, when wins were the only language that mattered.
There is still a practical question at the heart of all this: whether Ferrari can give him a car that turns that mindset into results. Hamilton has not added to his wins or pole positions since joining the team, and he said ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix weekend that he would not use the simulator after a disappointing Sprint weekend in Miami. He has used the simulator at Ferrari over the last 18 months more than he did across six seasons at McLaren and 12 seasons at Mercedes, a sign of how hard he has been working to adapt even as the results have lagged.
The Canadian Grand Prix now offers another chance to see whether that work begins to show. Practice is scheduled for 5.30pm ET on Friday, with Sprint Qualifying live at 9.30pm ET. For Hamilton, the message from Montreal was plain enough: the contract runs to 2027, the motivation remains, and the retirement chatter will have to wait.
