Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has no doubt Lewis Hamilton will sign an agreement extension keeping him at F1 champions Mercedes, saying the 2 parties had before the oncoming of testing next year to obtain the deal done.
The 35-year-old Hamilton, who ended a record-equalling seventh world championship title this season and have become the most successful driver in F1 history, has run out of contract at the end of this year.
Questions in regards to a contract extension have dogged Wolff and Hamilton all season, with the Mercedes seat the only person around the F1 grid not yet been officially filled.
\”If you refer to why haven't we've got a signed contract, this is because simple – we always prioritized about getting this championship done and never being depressed by sometimes difficult discussions…” Wolff, who led Mercedes to a record seventh straight title double this season, said on Friday.
\”But then COVID struck. It has delayed us a bit but we're not worried in eventually getting it done. Sooner or later it must be done, the most recent before we go testing.”
Wolff was speaking after Mercedes earlier on Friday announced plans for petrochemical giant Ineos to get one-third of its Formula One team, sharing equal ownership with parent company Daimler AG and also the Austrian.
As part of the deal, it was announced the 48-year-old Wolff, who has also faced questions about his future, will stay on in the role as chief executive and team principal for an additional 3 years.
Hamilton, who enjoys a close rapport with Wolff, hailed the expansion and said he'd open talks with him within the next 3 days.
The Briton, who earns an estimated 40 million pounds ($54.02 million) a year, decided to step up talks concerning his new deal over F1's Middle Eastern triple header, but tested positive for COVID-19 and was instructed to miss a race.
“We haven't started a conversation,” Hamilton, who returned for the Abu Dhabi season finale last Sunday, said in a virtual media conference in front of the governing FIA's annual prize giving ceremony. \”Toto and I plan to do that more than the coming days.\”
F1 tests are set to take place at the outset of March next year, using the season-opening Australian Grand Prix scheduled for later exactly the same month.
