Lewis Hamilton defiantly said Formula 1 has "never had anyone like me in seventy years" when asked if he can really keep racing into the 2030s.
Hamilton, 41, recently joked he might have to keep racing so he can line up on the grid at the African Grand Prix.
Rwanda and F1 have confirmed a deal to race, although the first race is currently slated to take place at an undefined time early in the next decade.
Hamilton, in his 20th season of Formula 1, has a Ferrari contract until the end of 2027.
The seven-time world champion was asked about his quip and if he was serious, given that people have rarely raced approaching their fifties since the early days of the F1 championship.
"I mean, firstly, you've never had anyone like me here in the seventy years. So I feel that I'm built differently," Hamilton said.
"Of course, there are challenges up ahead that I can't foresee that come with age. But along this journey, there have been so many preconceived ideas about the fact that your reaction time drops off."
After a frustrating and winless Ferrari debut season in 2025, he finally claimed his first victory in red at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix in June this year.
He remains third in the championship behind George Russell.
Hamilton said he still feels like he can hold his own with anyone on the grid, young and old.
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"Did you see my reaction [at the start] in the last race? My reaction is faster than some of the youngest people here," Hamilton added. "There are lots of tools you can utilise to keep yourself and your mind sharp. As long as you're willing to keep sacrificing everything ... I can't say in four years whether I want to continue to do what I'm doing, but I love what I'm doing still now. I'm still all in, and I will be for the foreseeable future.
"Whether or not I can compete at 44 with a 20-year-old, who knows? But at 41, I can compete with a 20-year-old. So time will tell. Whether I'm here in the [2030s], we'll see. I never want to overstay my welcome in a sense of not having the performance. I don't want to be driving around having really dropped off: my reactions have dropped off, my driving has dropped off, and my pace has dropped off, which everyone assumed last year and I proved everyone wrong with that. I aim to continue to do so."
Hamilton is not the oldest driver on the grid -- Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso, 45, will race for Aston Martin in 2027.