Lewis Hamilton gave short shrift to suggestions he could be planning his retirement from Formula 1.

The seven-times world champion has endured a lean spell since narrowly missing out on a record-breaking eighth world championship five years ago. He has won only two grands prix since then, both before he joined Ferrari last season.

The driver who once said he would not remain in F1 in his forties turned 41 before the start of this season. He is the second-oldest driver in the championship after Fernando Alonso.

However Hamilton said he has no intention of retiring yet and indicated he could remain in F1 for many more years to come.

“I’m still in contract so everything is 100% clear to me,” said Hamilton in Montreal today. “I’m still focused, I am still motivated, I still love what I do with all my heart.

“I will be here for quite some time, so get used to it. There’s a lot of people that are trying to retire me, and that’s not even in my thoughts. I’m already thinking of what will be next and planning for the next five years. But I still plan to be here for some time.”

Several of Hamilton’s rivals have expressed dissatisfaction with F1’s new rules and used the opportunity presented by the long gap between recent rounds to appear in other series. Max Verstappen entered the Nuerburgring 24 Hours and came close to winning. However Hamilton said he is “not particularly” interested in racing outside F1.

“I love the Nordschleife, so I would love to drive a car around there some stage,” he said. And the racing looks fantastic. So I don’t know, could do [but] don’t need to.”

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Keith Collantine

Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 – when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring journalist, Keith began running the site full-time in 2010, achieving a long-held ambition to dedicate his full attention to his passion for motor racing. View all posts by Keith Collantine