Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Yas Marina, 2019

Hamilton expects “hardcore racers” Mercedes will stay in F1 after 2020

2021 F1 season

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Lewis Hamilton believes Mercedes will commit to staying in F1 beyond the 2020 season, when their current agreement with the sport’s commercial rights holders expires.

The world champion’s current contract with the team also ends after the 2020 F1 season. If Mercedes do not remain in the sport, he will have to look elsewhere for an F1 drive in 2021.

However Hamilton told media in Abu Dhabi he is “pretty sure Mercedes is here to stay” beyond 2020.

“The board members are here this weekend, so I’ll double check with them,” he said. “But they’re all hardcore races and [I’m] pretty sure that they want to stay. But things may have changed, as they can do so I’ll find out.”

Team principal Toto Wolff said he and Hamilton have “built up a lot of trust” since they arrived at Mercedes together in 2013, and will discuss Hamiton’s possible future plans over the winter.

“I’d also like to know where he goes, if he stays in the future and we are having those discussions about future life because it is very important between the two of us, like between many others that have played an important role within the team.

“So can I shed more light on that stage, no, at [this] stage I think [is] important to finish to finish the season in Abu Dhabi. As I said, there’s many things to be decided on. We’ll see over the winter.”

Ferrari could be a potential destination for Hamilton if Mercedes do not remain in the sport after 2020. Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto said he is “an outstanding driver, a fantastic driver.”

“But honestly it’s too early for any decision,” he added. “We are happy with the drivers we’ve got at the moment. I think certainly at one stage next season we will start discussing and understanding what to do.”

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5 comments on “Hamilton expects “hardcore racers” Mercedes will stay in F1 after 2020”

  1. Hmmm, Daimler just announced they’re laying off at least 10.000 people in an effort to save 1,4 billion a year and focus fully on electric…. there might be some serious discussions going on in the boardroom regarding their commitment towards F1.

    1. I don’t see Mercedes sticking around as a works team after 2020, and honestly if it was me on the board making that decision i’d vote to sell the team after next season. They’ve had huge success over the last 6 years and good reason to think that will continue next year, but there’s no telling what’ll happen with the 2021 rules. If they get it right, they’ll continue to win and none of us will be surprised or impressed, but if they miss something (whatever ever happens to be 2021’s equivalent to 2009’s double-decker diffuser) it’ll make the company look bad. On the other hand, they can walk away after 7 years on top and go out as legends. Add in McLaren coming back to Mercedes engines for 2021 and Lewis’ contract ending in, the writing is on the wall. With luck, the team will continue on as they have for the last 40 years with another new owner and another new name.

      1. I agree, the incentives as a company seem to be stronger to go than to stay. Once McLaren announced the engine deal I saw that as an indicator, although I think someone at Mercedes said they would not be an engine constructor only in F1, which implies a works team or nothing.

        To be able to sell the team they would have to give the buyer a good few guarantees with regard to technology and support, otherwise the team is effectively of little value.

  2. Being a Malaysian, Lewis stay with the AMG Mercedes Petronas please? Tq

  3. I hope so, but in today’s news “Daimler, the German carmaker that owns Mercedes-Benz, has said it will shed at least 10,000 jobs worldwide as it seeks to fund the switch to electric cars.” (BBC) They want to save €1.4bn, so it is maybe reasonable to think that they may lok into switching from F1 to Formula E.

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