Lewis Hamilton signs a new £100m two-year deal

F1 superstar Lewis Hamilton set himself a target but only a vague time scale. He has agreed to drive on for two more years, to the brink of his 41st birthday, but beyond that, there are no promises.

He spoke of his ‘unfinished business’, which is code for clinching the elusive eighth world title that was torn from him in Abu Dhabi two years ago — a major motivation, no doubt, for signing a two-year extension to drive for Mercedes in 2024 and 2025.

The accompanying £50million-a-year salary, a rise of £10m that puts him on a par with Max Verstappen as one of the two top earners in the sport, can hardly have been a deterrent, either.

But it is hard to believe either factor was necessarily his chief impulse. That, one suspects, is the fact he cannot walk away from the only life he has known, the thing he is better at doing than he will be at anything else ever, the edifice on which his endorsements and statements and fame are built.

Outside interests in fashion and music are relative fripperies that can only occupy him for so long, and while he has the ability to race, though very slightly past his peak, he will possess the hunger to do so.

In terms of inspiration for Peter Pan durability, he cited in passing Fernando Alonso, still going impressively for Aston Martin at 42, but singled out as his blueprint Tom Brady, the GOAT quarterback (turned Birmingham City investor) who won his last of seven Super Bowls aged 43.

‘Tom has shown what can be done,’ said Hamilton, who will have clocked up a remarkable 19 seasons by the end of 2025. ‘He’s the role model. I’ve been fortunate to speak to him to understand what he has done consistently to keep himself in shape.’