Hamilton, 32, left McLaren at the end of 2012 and has gone on to win 33 F1 races and two world championships in four seasons with Mercedes.

McLaren hasn’t won a race since Hamilton departed Woking for Brackley, while Williams hasn’t fought for the world championship since 2003.

McLaren-Honda is struggling to even score points so far in 2017, lacking power from the engine and reliability overall, while Williams is trying to rebuild again with former McLaren and Mercedes technical director Paddy Lowe at the helm, having also not won a race since 2012.

Hamilton has spoken repeatedly of the extra satisfaction he feels from fighting against multiple drivers, rather than simply his own team-mate, and hopes both McLaren and Williams can find a way to join the fight at the front while he remains in Formula 1.

“What’s sad for me watching Formula 1 is you see the depth of teams, Williams, McLaren, and they’re not back there,” Hamilton said.

“Williams hasn’t been right in the fight for years - they had that real slump, and now McLaren’s having it.

“There’s a passion with Ferrari, there’s a passion with Mercedes, passion with McLaren - because of the drivers, experiences and championships they’ve had while I’ve been watching Formula 1.

"I hope in my time left in Formula 1 there is a period of time where Williams is up there with us and McLaren is up there with us and there’s a real strong front line of the top teams – which I think is magical.

“I hope that comes back into the mix at some stage.”