Hamilton says new contract is “very close” but may not sign until end of year

Lewis Hamilton says he is very close to agreeing a new contract to remain at Mercedes but it may not be signed until the end of the year.

He joined Mercedes from McLaren 10 years ago and won six world titles with them, the last of which came in 2020. Although he has indicated he intends to remain with the team, Hamilton admitted he doesn’t know exactly when his new deal will be finalised.

“Now until the end of the year [we] could be waiting,” he told media including RaceFans at the Hungaroring. “Honestly, I just don’t have any more information to share because it’s for the lawyers and continues to be for the lawyers – it’s back-and-forth on some things.”

“I’ve not been a part of it the whole time, I’ve been removed from it from the beginning,” he explained. “I’ve wanted to be able to focus on all the other things that I have going on. So, the team are working on it in the background and there’s no negotiation left, it’s just all small bits.”

Last month Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said they were “talking more days than weeks” in terms of when a new deal might be signed. Two weeks ago his opposite number at Red Bull, Christian Horner, questioned why a contract extension hadn’t been concluded.

“It’s strange because you keep being told and I keep seeing it through the media, it’s just a matter of days and that’s been going on since February,” he said to TalkSport. “So one can only assume there’s something fundamental that they can’t agree on.

“Certainly we don’t tend to conduct our negotiations through the media, but it’s usually a couple of conversations around the table and the job’s done. So I don’t understand why, there has to be something preventing that from happening.”

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