Lewis Hamilton has revealed he is “not going anywhere”, after stating that he is ready to attack the season ahead with Ferrari after pre-season testing. The seven-time champion struggled in his debut season with the Prancing Horse, finishing sixth in the drivers’ standings with just 156 points to his name.

The 41-year-old failed to land a podium, finishing fourth several times, but not doing enough to get back where he is used to finishing. That has naturally brought about some questions over a possible retirement for Hamilton, after admitting his struggles last season had brought him down.

But, after a positive pre-season testing session, Hamilton appears rejuvenated, as he revealed his desire to keep pushing forward with Ferrari. He said on Instagram: “That’s a wrap on testing. It’s inspiring to watch a team pull out all the stops to build a car.

“It’s the most fascinating part of this job for me. Everything is built from scratch and designed and redesigned over and over. And then there are only a few of us who get to put that machine to the test.

“That feeling never gets old. I want to say a huge thank you to everyone in the team back at the factory for the hard work to get to this point!! I am truly grateful.”

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Hamilton then made clear where his future lays, as he said: “I love this job so much and I love working with my team and driving for the fans. I’m incredibly lucky to be able to do what I do, and I’m excited for the season ahead.

“I’m re-set and refreshed. I’m not going anywhere, so stick with me. For a moment, I forgot who I was, but thanks to you and your support you’re not going to see that mindset again.

“I know what needs to be done. This is going to be one hell of a season. I’ve given everything to be here today. Let’s go team!!!”

The experienced star will be looking to put himself among the frontrunners for the drivers’ championship, alongside the constructors’ for Ferrari, when the season starts in the next few weeks. The new F1 calendar gets underway on March 8 with the Australian Grand Prix.

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There have been plenty of changes over the summer for Hamilton at Ferrari, which could change his fortunes for the coming season. There will be a switch on the pitwall, as the race engineer for the number 44 car will change, with Ricardo Adami moving elsewhere under the constructor.

Then there are the changes to the regulations, which could help shake the order up on the grid. Smaller cars could make for some interesting overtakes in corners that would’ve been otherwise impossible to do with the larger packages of previous seasons.

On top of that is the removal of DRS for Active Aero, along with a switch on how the engines are setup, which will now be 50% battery-powered. That may help Ferrari be competitive again, giving Hamilton a chance to be back around the top where he wants to be.

The current package in testing has shown good reliability, while Charles Leclerc was among the standout performers on the track in Bahrain. It’s unclear exactly how much of that can be taken into the season, when it starts next month, but the signs are promising.

“Happy, yes, but we have to keep in mind what was the target at the beginning,” team principal Fred Vasseur explained after testing. “Our target was to do a lot of mileage and I think this went pretty well, to collect data, to try to improve session after session, and I think this went well.

“Now, performance is not relative – it’s not performance relative and, at the end of the day, we don’t know the level of fuel of the others, we don’t know the engine mode, we don’t know that we didn’t have the same tyres. It means that, let’s be focused on ourselves to try to do a better job in Melbourne and this weekend, and we’ll see where we are.”