‘No Hamilton-Mercedes contract announcement at Canadian GP’

After matching his best result of the season with second-place at the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, Hamilton, whose current deal has six months left to run, indicated he was finally on the verge of agreeing a new Mercedes contract for 2024.

The seven-time world champion revealed he was planning further talks with Mercedes boss Toto Wolff directly after the Barcelona race. 

Wolff suggested that Hamilton’s F1 future could be resolved before this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix, but no announcement has come.

And Sky Sports have reported that a new deal will not be confirmed this weekend. 

“As far as I understand it, and I’ve gone and done my chats this morning, nothing this week for Lewis Hamilton and the contract announcement,” Croft said in Montreal. 

“I know we had some words of teasing from Toto Wolff at the start of the week. Both Lewis and Toto were together in New York, where they may or may not have had a contract chat or two.

“But Lewis made it clear the last time he spoke publicly about it that it was his management team that were sorting out the contract negotiations. 

“But as far as I’m aware, the Mercedes team aren’t preparing a press release. Nothing is on standby to go out this weekend.

“A Lewis contract, which is more likely to be two years with an option maybe for an extra year on top of that, is not going to be announced this weekend.

“Lewis is more concentrated on trying to add to that wonderful record here in Montreal of seven wins and six poles.” 

In Thursday’s FIA press conference, Hamilton said: “I've seen Toto and we talked several times. 

“We have a great relationship so there is nothing else to say at the moment.”

When asked if they had made any progress on a new deal, Hamilton added: “Yeah. But nothing else new to really add.”