Lewis Hamilton likely to sign new contract at Mercedes, says Toto Wolff
Seven-time F1 world champion Hamilton’s current deal with the Silver Arrows expires at the end of 2023
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Your support makes all the difference.Toto Wolff insists there is no reason for Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes not to continue their partnership beyond 2023.
Seven-time world champion Hamilton has won six of his world titles at the Silver Arrows, a team he joined after the 2012 F1 season when he left McLaren.
Despite controversially missing out on a record-breaking eighth title in 2021, and a year of struggle in an underperforming car in 2022, Hamilton has reiterated in the past few months that he has no intention of retiring anytime soon.
The Brit, who turned 38 on Saturday, sees his current deal expire at the end of 2023 but speaking to F1’s Beyond the Grid Podcast last month, Mercedes CEO Wolff believes there is no question that Hamilton will sign a new contract – it is just a case of when.
“Certainly, Lewis’s contract is one of the topics that we will tackle over the winter, but there is no firm deadline,” Wolff said.
Pressed on whether he was confident a new deal would be penned, Wolff said: “Absolutely. Lewis is part of the team, and the team is part of Lewis. [There’s] no reason not to continue.”
Last year Hamilton, for the first time in his F1 career, did not win a race throughout the course of the season, despite seven podium finishes.
He finished sixth in the Drivers’ Championship – his lowest ever season-end standing – as Mercedes struggled with bouncing and porpoising issues in the first half of the campaign that derailed their title tilt.
The 2023 season, which currently has a mid-April slot to fill as a result of the Chinese Grand Prix’s cancellation, starts in Bahrain on March 5.
Mercedes are one of five teams yet to announce the launch date for their 2023 car.
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