Lewis Hamilton refutes “made up” reports about F1 salary demands

Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton has urged the media to “stop making shit up” as he denied reports claiming he is demanding a salary rise at Mercedes.

In a post on Instagram on Saturday morning, Hamilton insisted he has not even started talks over a new deal with Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff, who himself recently said the pair were not set to begin discussions until the delayed 2020 season had got underway.

It comes after a report in the Daily Mail earlier this week claimed that Hamilton is seeking a salary rise to £40million in order to remain at the reigning world champion squad, with his current contract is set to expire at the end of the year.

The Briton, who did not specify which report he was criticising, said: “The media keep writing about [my] contract and me making demands but I haven’t even spoken with Toto [Wolff] about it yet.

“No demands, the conversation hasn’t even begun. So please stop making shit up.”

Speaking on Friday in Austria, Wolff provided an update on the respective contract situations of Hamilton and teammate Valtteri Bottas and implied that the pair’s re-signing is a formality.

“It's based on the fact that we haven't seen each other a lot,” said Wolff, when asked why there had been no news on either driver yet.

“We have been keeping the discussion up. We are in a position of trust with both of the drivers, and you could say in Formula 1 it doesn't mean a lot, but it does in our team.

“I guess that we will do the next steps soon, but I don't want to commit to timing, because I don’t want to answer questions every single race weekend about why the contracts are not done.

“There's no urgency in the matter. All of us want to do it, and when the time is right, we will announce it.”