Last year in December, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff hinted that an extension to Lewis Hamilton’s contract with the team, would be done before the winter was over yet now, into mid-summer, there’s no ink on paper; Damon Hill appears to know why.
Depending on who you believe Hamilton is currently on a contract worth anything between $45-million and $55-million a year. Whatever the case Sir Lewis – the 103-time Grand Prix winner, seven-time F1 world champion and celebrity A-Lister with massive marketing power, won’t come cheap.
Hill believes that the delay in the deal is because it is a complex one, perhaps the last of Hamilton’s career in F1 which reportedly will include an ambassador role with Mercedes beyond his racing days. Sensible for a driver who owes his wins record and titles to Merc-power.
So why has no deal been signed as yet when it was supposed to be a formality over a cuppa tea?
Speaking to PA Media at a Halow Project charity event in Sandown, 1996 F1 World Champion, Hill ventured: “Talk is that Lewis is finalising a much longer-term deal that goes beyond his racing career. The car company itself is involved, so there is a bit more bureaucracy in this deal.”
Hill added: “It’s admirable the way Lewis kept his chin up after what happened in Abu Dhabi… He got back on with the task in hand and he is driving better again this year than he has done before. He is starting to gel with that car now and he has solved some of the problems he faced.
“So I would be amazed if he doesn’t want to go out on a high by winning that eighth title, and he is absolutely motivated by that. He has got that longevity and he looks after himself.
“He needs a competitive car, half-a-chance, and someone like Lewis will rise up to that challenge and find more in himself. At the moment we are seeing a happier Hamilton, and a happy Hamilton is a fast Hamilton.”
While no deal with Mercedes is inked Lewis has been linked to Ferrari again
Delays in matters of new deals in F1, always spawn gossip and rumours, the Hamilton-Mercedes apparent stalemate triggering talk of the Briton having a romantic F1 swansong with Ferrari, some even predicting he would quit before 2026. But no one really knows apart from Lewis and the inner circle drafting the forthcoming contract.
While Hamilton has for some time been considered a living and racing legend, up there with Michael Schumacher, Ayrton Senna and other icons of F1. Indeed history would do well to title the best part of the past decade as The Hamilton Era of F1, but now it has given way to The Verstappen Era, as 25-year-old Max goes on his own unprecedented record-breaking mission.
So who is the GOAT of F1? Hill reckoned: “Comparing different eras is quite difficult. They do many more races than they used to in the sport. But, nevertheless, in every era there are one or two drivers who are the cream of the crop, and you have to say Max is one of them, along with Lewis and Fernando [Alonso].
“I certainly see him having his own era called ‘the Max Verstappen era’ where he wins practically everything. If you appreciate great drivers and the job they do then it is great to watch.
“But I understand people want to see a race and not a demonstration and we have to be patient and hope the others catch him up pretty quickly,” acknowledged Hill who scored 22 Grand Prix wins, plus the abovementioned title during his seven and a half years in F1.
Fresh from winning Red Bull’s 100th GP, Verstappen heads to Red Bull Ring for their home race where he will be targeting his seventh win of the season, a fourth in a row while looking to extend his 69 points lead, in the 2023 F1 World Championship Drivers’ standings, over teammate Sergio Perez.
Ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix, this is what the 2023 F1 title race scorecards look like:
Full standings and statistics here>>>