© LAT Images for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff says Lewis Hamilton let him know he’ll ‘stay with him’ during an “extravagant” championship celebration.
Wolff said himself, Hamilton and a few members of the team had a small post championship win party on a plane home from the Turkish Grand Prix. As the Austrian explains to Kronen Zeitung the party was “a little extravagant”.
“There was Turkish food including baklava,” said Wolff.
“Half of the plane drank schnapps, and the other half, with me and Lewis, didn’t stop at the Sprite.”
Mercedes’ team boss jokes that after some champagne, Lewis, who is yet to sign a new contract with Mercedes, told him several times: “Toto, I’ll stay with you”.
Hamilton himself said after the race that he expects the contract talks to ramp up now that both championships are in the bag.
“Definitely it’s something that we do need to get onto,” said Hamilton.
“And you know, I think, I just always think, through the year just that I’ve got a job to do, I’ve got a contract in place, I don’t feel like I should add pressure.
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“It has to be organic and not something that’s forced. So, I thought let’s put it to… I bet on myself.
“Naturally there are days when you think ‘what happens if you start making mistakes? What happens if you get worse all of a sudden, you don’t put in these great performances? Does your value decrease? Does your bargaining power decrease? Does your reputation go off a cliff?
“I know there’s scenarios in life where you’re like ‘let’s sign up real quick’, so you guarantee your future, and for me, I’ve bet on myself.
“I do the work. I know myself better than anyone and I know what I can do, and I know how to do it. Better than ever.
“And so, yeah, I wanted to put it aside and wait until the job is done. So, probably over these next weeks – we’ve got three weeks in the Middle East – so, now it’s a bit more chilled but I still have three races ahead of me that I want to win.
“It’s not done but we will get it done, I’m sure,” concluded the seven-time champion.
