The Mercedes star, 38, begins his 17th successive Formula 1 season on Sunday as the 2023 campaign gets underway in Bahrain.

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And Hamilton‘s team are continuing to play catch up to Max Verstappen‘s Red Bull following a disappointing 2022.

The Brit went the entire year without claiming a Grand Prix victory for the first time since his F1 debut way back in 2007.

The underwhelming season came after a record-breaking eighth world title was dramatically snatched away from him in 2021 when Verstappen overtook him on the last lap of the final race.

It means Hamilton remains locked together with Michael Schumacher on seven world championship triumphs.

And Mercedes’ struggles over the past 12 months have left many speculating whether the Stevenage-born racer will retire on seven wins.

But Hamilton has now attempted to quash any talk of that being the case.

He undertook a lie detector test for Sky Sports‘ F1 coverage and was asked by presenter Simon Lazenby: “Are you going to keep going until you get your eighth title?”.

To which he simply replied: “Yes”.

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And the polygraph was unwavering following Hamilton’s response.

It comes after Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff confidently insisted he will keep leading the team until Hamilton gets his historic eighth win.

He said: “Even if I need to push him around to win the eighth. We’re going to do everything that’s needed.”