Toto Wolff on Lewis Hamilton's contract renewal: "Nothing has been signed"

• F1

In an interview with Sky Sports UK, Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team principal talked about the renewal of the contract with Lewis Hamilton. After the Hungarian GP and towards the Spa GP, which will represent the summer break from an intense 2023 F1 World Championship, there is a lot of talk about the multi-million dollar agreement between the two parties, with the British driver who would have really claimed sensational.

Wolff explained: "We didn't sign the contract, but emotionally we did. It's not about money at all, it's about the future, what we want to do and optimizing everything."

What Hamilton would have asked

The British driver would have asked to fill the role of ambassador in Mercedes for 10 years at about 20 million dollars a year.

A total of 200 million therefore Lewis's request, which would have shaken the Brackley team. Hamilton would cost Mercedese a good £537 million including the role of brand ambassador and a possible title won. An unnamed Daily Mail source explained: "Lewis wants five years, and if it was just a one-year extension I don't think he would accept it.

They may need to compromise because, while George Russell has probably made peace with the idea that Lewis is around for a couple of years, he might not accept being in his team-mate's shadow for so long.There's always an attraction to Ferrari, but Lewis will probably feel that his only hope of to win his eighth title is to stay where he is." According to Wolff's words of a previous interview, in fact, the delay on the official nature of the new contract of the 7-time Grand Slam champion would not depend on economic reasons.

Wolff said: "I'm still very confident that it will be done. We want to do it excellently and in every detail. It's not about the money. It's about the future, about what we want to do well and then optimize. We're not talking anymore about money or duration, but other subjects.

The British say a pair means two, and the Americans say a pair means a few. So it's roughly in between, several years. Lewis, the car is not good, we know it, please drive it,. My intervention? It was only in the interest of the team, sometimes there are moments when things need to calm down, but I did it with the best intention. You should hear how we talk on the phone, it's not been no big deal."