Lewis Hamilton doesn't need Mercedes to prove they can challenge for titles before he extends his Formula 1 career.
The Brit's current contract expires at the end of the current season, but there is little concern from the Silver Arrows that they might lose him. Both the team and Hamilton himself have publicly signalled their intentions to thrash out a new deal.
A new contract would most likely keep the seven-time world champion racing in F1 beyond his 40th birthday – something he had previously indicated he did not want to do. But the 38-year-old has a new lease of life despite his least successful ever season in F1 last year.
Mercedes gave Hamilton and George Russell a car which could not compete with the front-runners. The younger Brit was the only one who managed a race victory – on an anomalously dominant weekend for the Silver Arrows in Brazil.
It remains to be seen whether their new car, the W14, will be capable of challenging for the title this year. Regardless, though, Hamilton says it will not affect his desire to continue racing for the team he calls his family.
"I don't feel like I need them to prove to me," he said at their season launch event. "I feel like we have proved time and time again over the years we have strength in depth. We have all these incredibly talented individuals in the team – we don't lose that ability.
"We continue to try and improve our processes, we continue to try and be smarter in how we approach things and with our communication. I think this is the best harmony within the team I have seen in all these years. We have a fresh young group of people and engineers, it is an exciting time for the team and I don't plan on being anywhere else.
"This is family to me. It is no coincidence we have won world championships in the past, you don't just all of a sudden lose the ability to do so. I have the utmost confidence in all the people I have been around.
"I think last year I was bullish because they were bullish, we had big upgrades coming but obviously it was a shock to all of us, so I think this year everyone is a lot more grounded. More the approach of we, perhaps, won't be the fastest out the gate but we have the potential to close the gap early on in the season."
