Lewis Hamilton contract – Toto Wolff hint, ’12-year deal’, retirement

Lewis Hamilton is level with Michael Schumacher at the top of the all-time F1 championship standings after landing his seventh title in 2020. The Briton almost won an eighth title in 2021 following a tussle with Max Verstappen, but was cut well adrift last season as Mercedes struggled with porpoising issues. The ace has one more year remaining on his current deal – and Express Sport takes a look at Hamilton’s contract situation with the Silver Arrows.

Toto Wolff hint

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has explained that his team will negotiate with Hamilton “as in previous seasons,” which means fans may have to wait until just before the start of the 2023 season to discover what sort of new deal the driver is handed.

Hamilton signed his last deal in February 2021. And Wolff has hinted a new deal could be on the cards. “I don’t see it that way at all,” the Mercedes chief told Auto Motor Und Sport as he rubbished claims Hamilton had been begging for a new contract.

“I said very early on that Lewis will always have a seat with us. A decision is always discussed between us, and Lewis would be the first to say if he’s not enjoying it anymore or thinks he has deficits. In this respect, we want to continue and we will certainly negotiate as in previous years. I don’t see any indication that we need to change anything.”

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£350m 12-year deal

Wolff’s comments came in the aftermath of reports from Sportune that Hamilton is chasing a £350million deal that would see him stay with Mercedes until the age of 50. The outlet claimed that Hamilton’s camp wanted to secure a two-year deal worth £125m to continue as a driver, followed by a further decade as an ambassador with Mercedes-Benz in exchange for £222m.

But a Silver Arrows spokesperson then told Formu1a.uno: “Obviously, the winter doesn’t stop the rumour mill, and it’s been entertaining to read speculation about contract discussions when they haven’t yet begun. The rumours seem to have started on a French blog, Sportune, with which we don’t have a relationship – and are pretty wild in terms of what they suggest. Toto stated on record last Friday that discussions haven’t yet begun, and that’s exactly the situation.”

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Hamilton on his retirement

Hamilton will surely be desperate to continue racing as he attempts to move beyond Schumacher to become the most successful driver of all-time. And the 38-year-old recently told the Jay Shetty Podcast: “When I do stop there will be a big hole. So I’m trying to generally find things that will replace that, that are also going to be just as rewarding.

“That’s Mission 44 (offering grants to youngsters from disadvantaged backgrounds), meeting kids in schools, having these conversations with families and parents who clearly are going through difficult times and want to create the best opportunity for their kids. Encourage them, ‘it’s okay, I’ve been there too, look where I got, so you can get there.’ For me that’s way more rewarding than winning a race. So much more.”