Hamilton far from finished

Lewis Hamilton says he plans to go out at the top, but is not about to ‘‘do the easy thing’’ like former Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg who quit days after winning the 2016 Formula One world championship.

Hamilton clinched his fourth title in Mexico with two races to spare, becoming the most successful British driver of all time, but he said he was far from done.

‘‘Four is a great number. But I want number five now,’’ declared the 32-year-old.

‘‘I want to go out at the top ... I could do the easy thing, like obviously Nico did, which is just stop and retreat with these four titles. But I think there’s more in me.

‘‘There’s more to come, more of a challenge. There’s harder times ahead and I like that, I love that. That’s challenging and it would be so boring without it.’’

Rosberg announced last December, days after securing his first title, that he was retiring after a career spent battling Hamilton. The German, a family man, made clear he had been drained by the 2016 campaign and was not prepared to expend the same amount of physical and mental energy to defend a title that had been so hard to win.

Hamilton, who is developing interests outside of the sport in music, film and fashion, said he too had considered a change of scene but that was still some way down the road.

‘‘I will continue to race while I love it, I’ve enjoyed it this year more than ever. I do think about how it would be so nice at some stage just to live in one place, a lot more socialising, walking your dogs every day or surfing.

‘‘But then I’m thinking, there’s a lot of life to live beyond 40. There’s a lot to go.’’