After months of speculation, Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes have confirmed a new two-year contract extension has been signed, keeping the world champion at the team until 2020.

Throughout the year it has been regularly maintained that a new deal was a matter of 'when' not 'if' and finally that has proven accurate with the announcement coming ahead of the team's home race in Germany this weekend.

The knowledge that Hamilton has ambitions beyond the F1 grid has often led to questions over a possible snap-retirement, however, now those have been answered with a salary of $40m a year reported.

Though those details were not revealed, Mercedes motorsport boss admits it is good to finally put an end to the matter.

"We have been aligned with Lewis ever since we first sat down to discuss the details of this contract after last season," said the Austrian.

"But there has understandably been a lot of interest and speculation around the whole process, so it's good to put all of that to rest and get this thing announced.

"We signed the final documents this week and didn't want to keep people waiting any longer!"

The two parties have won three world titles and 44 races together since Hamilton made the then surprising decision to leave McLaren and join the Brackley operation in 2013.

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Though the domination of recent years has ended, with Ferrari and Red Bull closing the gap, a fifth championship for the 33-year-old is very much still on this season as he sits just eight points behind leader Sebastian Vettel.

"I have been part of the Mercedes racing family for 20 years and I have never been happier inside a team than I am right now," Lewis commented.

"We are on the same wavelength both on and off track - and I am looking forward to winning more in the future and shining even more light on the three-pointed star.

"I'm very confident that Mercedes is the right place to be over the coming years."

What this news also does is bring the Briton in line with the German and Max Verstappen with all three drivers assessing how the future of F1 will look when an overhaul of the regulations is expected in 2021.