Hamilton still has plenty of fuel in his tank
LEWIS Hamilton claimed his best result of the season at yesterday’s French Grand Prix – and then said he is ready to extend his Formula One career.
In his 300th race, Hamilton started fourth and finished second, blasting past Red Bull’s Sergio Perez off the line and then gaining another place after Charles Leclerc crashed out from the lead.
Max Verstappen triumphed for a seventh time this year to move 63 points clear in the championship race.
Hamilton finished 10 seconds adrift of the Dutchman – and is now 106 points off the title pace.
However, he was belated and exhausted in equal measure when the chequered flag dropped in the searing 33 degree heat.
It has been a troubling period for the 37-year-old in the seven months since his controversial loss at last December’s title-deciding Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – a defeat so sour there was serious debate whether he would return this year.
However, with 18 months to run on his £40million-a-year Mercedes deal, Hamilton’s boss Toto Wolff said his driver could commit to at least another century of grands prix.
Hamilton said: “That is a lot of races. Firstly, I want to be grateful to get to this point.
“I still feel fresh and I still feel as though I have plenty of fuel left in the tank.
“I am enjoying what I am doing and I am proud of arriving every day and working with this incredible group of people. I am enjoying working with the sport more than ever.
“I want to get back to winning ways and that is going to take time but I am sure we will sit down at some stage and talk about the future.
“I want to keep building. One thing is having the races but another is to continue doing more outside of the sport, which I think Mercedes and us can and will do.”
Hamilton took a blase approach to his triple ton in the build-up to the 12th round of the campaign. However, last night he paid tribute to the men who helped propel him into the history books.
He continued: “The 300th Grand Prix was mentioned at the beginning of the weekend and I didn’t think much of it.
“This morning I woke up and felt incredibly grateful, thinking about all of the people that have been with me along the way – Ron Dennis and Mercedes giving me the chance when I was young.
“Martin Whitmarsh and Mansour Ojjeh at McLaren, Toto Wolff , Niki Lauda, (Mercedes chairman) Ola Kallenius, (Mercedes board member) Markus Schafer, and (former chairman of Mercedes’ parent company, Daimler) Dieter Zetsche.
“All of these incredible people have supported me since I was 13.
“All of my races have been powered by Mercedes and I am very proud to be up here representing them.
“We have to keep pushing, and every weekend we hope we will get closer.”