Mercedes' schedule delaying Hamilton contract talks

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff says there’s no pressure on securing Lewis Hamilton’s Formula 1 future despite ongoing negotiations becoming stalled by the team’s focus on the current campaign.

Both Hamilton and Mercedes spoke about looking to confirm a new deal stretching back to the closing rounds of last season but with strong media attention on the reigning F1 world champion’s future, talks between the two continue to wind on.

It has been reported Hamilton is set to ink a £120m multi-year deal, which could keep him at Mercedes until the end of the 2021 F1 season, but in Monaco Wolff has revealed there is no fixed schedule on when an agreement needs to be made.

“It’s a funny situation because we have been discussing for a long time,” Wolff said in Monaco. “We get together and sort things out and then get busy in our daily operation jobs – us on the team side and Lewis on his preparation.

“It shows that we have great confidence in each other; nobody is pressuring each other. We haven’t set a fixed date where we want to announce but I can tell you that I don’t see a reason why this shouldn’t be happening.”

During the Monaco media day Hamilton said he was also in no rush over his next F1 contract, looking assured he will remain at Mercedes, and Wolff has moved to downplay speculation on trouble brewing over the deal.

“It is in the process of just closing. There is a bit of an email ping-pong on details,” Wolff said. “I don’t want to set a date. Maybe we may choose one of the nice grands prix in the future, in the next couple of months.

“It is a pretty normal procedure, that you talk to each other and you negotiate, similar to what happens in some of the other teams. I mean, Daniel’s and Christian’s situation is maybe similar. This is work in progress and we see no hurry to pressurise each other into signing a document that will eventually anyway happen.

“There is no desire for him to leave the team and we have no desire for us to lose him.”

Hamilton joined Mercedes from McLaren in 2013, replacing Michael Schumacher alongside Nico Rosberg, and the British driver has secured three F1 world titles with the German manufacturer while helping the team storm to four consecutive F1 world constructors’ championships.