Lewis Hamilton provides new retirement update as statement issued ahead of 2026 season

Lewis Hamilton has sent a definitive message over his future in Formula 1 ahead of the 2026 season.

Hamilton is set to enter his second year with Ferrari after joining them at the beginning of 2025.

It was initially reported that the seven-time world champion had signed a guaranteed two-year contract with the Scuderia, with the option of a third year that he could trigger at any time.

However, the exact length has never been officially disclosed, and various outlets have since claimed that his deal with Ferrari could in fact be a four-year agreement.

Hamilton struggled during his first season with the Scuderia, finishing seventh in the Drivers' Championship and being regularly outpaced in both qualifying and races by team-mate Charles Leclerc.

He has had to endure upheaval over the winter break, with his race engineer Riccardo Adami being re-deployed to oversee Ferrari's driver academy programme in a senior role.

Hamilton has been driving without a permanent race engineer during testing (Image: Getty)

A permanent successor to Adami has still not been announced - something Hamilton described earlier this month as potentially being 'detrimental' to his season as he will need to adapt to a new arrangement mid-season.

Carlo Santi, who is the former race engineer of Kimi Raikkonen, is currently working with the 41-year-old, but Sky Sports claim this is an interim partnership amid speculation that ex-McLaren performance engineer Cedric-Michel Grosjean is being lined up by Ferrari.

On the track, though, Ferrari have appeared to enjoy a successful pre-season testing programme, with only minor reliability issues affecting their running in Bahrain.

The Scuderia trialled an innovative rear wing update on day two of the third and final test earlier this week, which could increase top speeds by up to 10km/h once permanently fitted to the car.

The new design, which pivots the rear wing by 270 degrees when the new active aerodynamics system is enabled by the driver, is said to have 'surprised' engineers at Mercedes and Red Bull, according to AutoRacer.

And on the final day of testing, Leclerc topped the timesheets by over eight tenths to further underline Ferrari's seemingly strong performance.

Ferrari's race starts have been strong during F1 2026 testing (Image: Getty)

Hamilton appeared downbeat on several occasions towards the end of the 2025 season, and even told BBC Radio 5 Live that he was 'not looking forward' to 2026 after finishing eighth in the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

But after a positive start to the year, the seven-time champion took to Instagram to tell fans that he 'isn't going anywhere'.

He has added that he now feels 're-set and refreshed', having 'forgot who I was'.

"It's inspiring to watch a team pull out all the stops to build a car," he wrote. "It's the most fascinating part of this job for me.

"Everything is built from scratch and designed and redesigned over and over. And then there are only a few of us who get to put that machine to the test.

Hamilton was on track for half of day one and the entirety of day two in Bahrain (Image: Getty)

"That feeling never gets old. I want to say a huge thank you to everyone in the team back at the factory for the hard work to get to this point!! I am truly grateful.

"I love this job so much and I love working with my team and driving for the fans."

"I'm incredibly lucky to be able to do what I do," Hamilton continued. "And I'm excited for the season ahead.

"I'm re-set and refreshed. I'm not going anywhere, so stick with me.

"For a moment, I forgot who I was, but thanks to you and your support you're not going to see that mindset again.

"I know what needs to be done. This is going to be one hell of a season. I've given everything to be here today. Let's go team!!!"