Hamilton: New deal could be signed before Australia

Lewis Hamilton remains hopeful of signing an extended contract with Mercedes before the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. The world champion's current deal expires at the end of this year, but he says he is fully comitted to the Silver Arrows.

Hamilton and Mercedes have dominated Formula 1's hybrid era to date, the Briton winning three drivers' titles to back up his teams quartet of constructors' crowns.

Both Hamilton and team-mate Valtteri Bottas are out of contract this season, but Mercedes have insisted re-signing the champion is just a matter of time.

And as he embarks on his hunt for a fifth world title, Hamilton says he too expects to pen fresh terms.

"I hope so but if not don't worry, it will happen," Hamilton said when asked if he would put pen to paper before next week's 2018 curtain-raiser in Melbourne.

"Obviously we have this year to focus on but it will for sure happen.

"We are continuing to talk. It's quite a relaxed atmosphere for us because Mercedes knows I'm committed to them and they've expressed that they are committed to me so both Toto [Wolff] and I sit here quite relaxed.

"It's just about constantly trying to find common grounds and ultimately with contracts you always want to work on how you can be better and provide a better service and vice versa, how you can extract more from each other. So that's really what we are just working on."

Bottas has targeted taking the fight to Hamilton in 2018 in order to prove his worth to the team, while Daniel Ricciardo is also set to play a role in the driver amrket as his Red Bull contract expires at the season's end.