Lewis Hamilton private chat confirms retirement decision

F1 commentator David Croft has revealed that he had a private conversation with seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton and confirmed his future at Ferrari.

Hamilton is contracted with Ferrari until the end of the 2026 season, but after a torrid first season with the Maranello outfit, there has been questions surrounding his future.

The Brit did not secure a single grand prix podium with the team throughout the whole of 2025, and he finished down in sixth in the drivers' championship.

Hamilton suffered badly in his SF-25 even compared to team-mate Charles Leclerc, who finished 86 points above the 40-year-old in the standings.

Hamilton has previously admitted that he's 'not looking forward' to 2026, but nevertheless Croft has revealed that Hamilton's intentions are to continue on until at least the end of his current contract.

"Lewis is coming back," Croft told Express Sport. "He's not going to retire, he's not going to step down. He'll be on the grid in 2026 and I'm sure, knowing Lewis as I do, he'll feel refreshed and invigorated and raring to go after spending a bit of time away from the track.

"He can't afford to start the season like he's ending this season, and there'll be more and more questions coming his way.

"That must be so demoralising, especially for a seven-time world champion, to constantly keep answering questions about why you are so slow and why is it going so wrong. Lewis has been a great fighter throughout his career and a great battler. I think he's the GOAT, I really do, he's my greatest of all time for on and off-track reasons in that respect, and not just because he's a Stevenage boy and we all stick together.

"I caught up with Lewis, I had a chat with him in Vegas - I won’t say what we were talking about, but he just needs to believe and remember that he is Lewis Hamilton and that he's not lost that ability."

Can Hamilton bounce back in 2026?

There's no doubt that Hamilton is further away from a record-breaking eighth world championship title now than he has been ever since it was cruelly snatched from his grasp by Max Verstappen in 2021.

In four full seasons since then, Hamilton has only won two grands prix, and he ditched Mercedes at the end of 2024 in order to try and challenge further up the grid.

But Ferrari have been plagued by difficulties, while Hamilton himself has struggled for form, particularly in qualifying.

The hope for Hamilton is that the 2026 cars are more suited to his talents than the previous generation of cars, with wholesale regulation changes sweeping into the sport for next year.

On top of this, that regulation reset may well see Ferrari challenging further up the grid, with a shake up in the competitive order of the grid expected to happen as a result.

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