Mercedes W09 launch, 2018

Hamilton aiming to agree new Mercedes deal before the season begins

2018 F1 season

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Lewis Hamilton says he hopes to extend his contract to drive for Mercedes before the 2018 season begins.

The four-times world champion is in the third year of his current three-year deal to race for the team. At today’s launch of the team’s new car he said he had been in regular contact with team executive director Toto Wolff about his new deal.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W09 launch, Silverstone, 2018
Pictures: Mercedes W09 launch
“Me and Toto have been talking from a while,” said Hamilton. “Once I left in December I was away and it’s not something I particularly like to do over the phone. I didn’t get back until February, I was away in that time but we spoke very often. We’re constantly talking to each other about how we’re committed to each other.”

Hamilton says both parties believe they should continue the relationship.

“Toto knows that I know there’s no one better so he’s not going to be looking anywhere else and he knows that I know there’s no one else better so I’m not looking anywhere else,” he said. “So we’re comfortable and we’re committed to each other. It’s just about talking about the details.”

“Hopefully we’ll have something done before the beginning of the season, before the first race. But again we’re just in no rush, there’s no panic. I’m not feeling under pressure from any other drivers being there and Toto and Mercedes have no reason to feel I’m talking to anybody else.”

“In the whole six years I’ve been here I’ve not spoken to another team once. I think that really shows my commitment.”

“I know that the team have been contacted by other drivers in the past and probably still do today, that’s inevitable. We always made it clear and the beginning if I was to engage and look at my options I would inform him and I’ve not needed to because I haven’t.”

Wolff said the sooner Hamilton’s deal can be signed the better it will be. “But the minute you put the date out you’re going to be [reminded] about it later and it doesn’t make any sense to put ourselves under pressure,” he said.

“He’s been with the team six years so we’re talking about extending that to a very long time with the same diver, same team. I guess a couple of weeks is a realistic target.”

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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16 comments on “Hamilton aiming to agree new Mercedes deal before the season begins”

  1. OH NO NOOOOOOO!!!! This just means Lewis has ten more titles in the bag till Honda starts making engines instead of memes

  2. Don’t see any reason for them to split before 2021, and by then he might be done.

  3. Please don’t retire Lewis. Have a feeling his retirement is closer than people think…

    I have an idea, how about Liberty Censor the halo. So people watching races on screens dont see halo.

    1. @amg44

      I have an idea, how about Liberty Censor the halo. So people watching races on screens dont see halo.

      now that’s something bernie actually tried

  4. ‘the same diver’ – LOL.

  5. Yes (@come-on-kubica)
    23rd February 2018, 0:43

    One can hope this contract never happens and we get a fresh face in at Mercedes.

  6. “Toto knows that I know there’s no one better so he’s not going to be looking anywhere else and he knows that I know there’s no one else better so I’m not looking anywhere else,”

    Didn’t understand this one, first hamilton says toto knows that hamilton knows there’s no one better, so he’s not going to be asking other drivers to replace him, and then he says toto knows that hamilton knows there’s no better team, so he’s not gonna ask any other team.

    I feel something should be changed in these phrases, like hamilton saying that he knows there’s no one better is weird when there’s drivers around who are arguably similarly good as him.

    1. Lewis is the most successfully British driver of all time,he is second only to Micheal with the most wins in the history of F1,he is record holder of the most poles in the history of F1…….I know he is just a mix race guy from stevenege and not Max vestapen but I think he can just about get away with saying he the best out there

    2. I think he’s talking about better teams: in the first case he means Toto knows Hamilton knows Mercedes are the best team, so he’d want to stay with them, so Toto doesn’t need find a replacement driver. And in the second case, he repeats himself up to the point of him staying put. Difficult to understand, though Wittgenstein probably a bit more so.

  7. “Toto knows that I know there’s no one better so he’s not going to be looking anywhere else and he knows that I know there’s no one else better so I’m not looking anywhere else”

    Is that a verbatim quote? Because that is the weirdest sentence.

    1. Yes I listened to that one back a few times – it’s a bit tortuous but I think his meaning his clear, i.e. that both parties recognise they can’t do better than each other.

      1. It’s tortuous but when listened rather than read it’s easy to get what he is getting at. And to those feeling it’s a bit bombastic, i’d say Hamilton is making a pretty good assesment of the situation. They are both the best option available to one another and they both know it.

  8. Hamilton has won 3 titles with them and Mercedes have won the last 4 constructors. The best is with the best, why change what works?

    Hopeful that “the best” are getting a bigger challenge this year… top four separated by no more than 3 hundredths of a second would be lovely.

  9. YellowSubmarine
    23rd February 2018, 22:09

    Interesting. Maybe it’s just my ‘english as a third language’ understanding… Reading those statements, I get the distinct feeling that Lewis is trying to make a case for a renewed contract, and that Toto isn’t.

    1. I can assure you – as an Englishman – that I don’t get that impression at all.

      1. YellowSubmarine
        22nd May 2018, 4:08

        @shimks – hmmmm. Seen the latest contract stories out of Mercedes? I still get that impression I got earlier. Sounds like Toto has a figure that he won’t go above, Lewis has a figure that he won’t go below, and they’re poised to agree to disagree…especially with Ricciardo’s future still unsettled.

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