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Toto Wolff says Lewis Hamilton's new contract is "as good as done". The Mercedes chief had hoped to get the signatures on paper prior to Melbourne, but amid rumours of squabbles over details, delays were announced.
Germany's Sport Bild now claims that Hamilton's new contract for 2019, 2020 and 2021 will earn him a cool $60 million per year. "It is as good as done," Wolff said. "We are absolutely on the same wavelength. But a contract like this is over 100 pages with a corresponding number of points to address. And all that has to be done first," he added.
By the time late 2021 rolls around, Hamilton's new deal will have made him a staggering $184 million, raising the question of whether any driver is worth that much.
F1 legend Gerhard Berger argues: "Yes. Without Lewis, Mercedes would be only third behind Ferrari and Red Bull. Hamilton is the fastest driver on the grid. He can make the difference. So Mercedes has to do everything to secure him," the former Ferrari and McLaren driver added.
Meanwhile, Wolff insisted that a team strategy error that cost Hamilton victory in Melbourne will not be repeated in Bahrain. "We made sure we understood what went wrong and that it cannot be repeated in a similar way in the future," he said. (GMM)
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Replies (2)
Login to replyajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
I think Lewis like him or not, is probably worth that much to Mercedes. Firstly, because of results on track and secondly, because of marketing. Dude loves to be popular more than any athlete I can remember. Photo shootouts, active in social media, pretty good rapport with fans, etc.
boudy
Posts: 1,168
Justification on such on exorbitant amount feels not right. Sure if Mercedes are willing to pay that amount than Hamilton would be foolish not to take it. However if it was up to me I wouldn't have offered such a deal; i'd rather moved on Ocon and created an position / question if he wanted to drive if the best F1 car. For me it looks like Mercedes are under selling their position and Hamilton is over selling.