One of the BEST seats in F1 is blocked out for at least two more seasons after Lewis Hamilton agreed a new contract with Mercedes. Whether you expected Hamilton to extend his career or not, his commitment to at least the end of 2025 with a hint he could go even longer has a BIG impact on the driver market. The joint announcement that Hamilton and George Russell would stay at Mercedes until at least the end of 2025 was the first sign of what was looking like a potentially very open medium-term driver market closing up. Before Mercedes’ announcement we had all but a handful of drivers like Max Verstappen and Lando Norris due to become free agents for 2025. There was enormous potential to move around. But gradually this has shifted towards a feeling that things might just stay the same. 00:00 Top seats locked down 02:26 2026 questions 04:44 Never planned 07:18 What it means for Russell Subscribe: http://the-race.com/youtube_subscribe Website: http://the-race.com/ Twitter: @wearetherac