© Stephen Reuss for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix ltd.
Lewis Hamilton says he’s “planning to be here and racing for a decent chunk of time”, and his “very complex” Mercedes contract will “get done when it’s done”.
After the Spanish Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton said he was expecting to have a meeting with Toto Wolff the very next day, where they would discuss his new contract.
Ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix, Lewis was asked if the meeting happened.
“We’ve never hooked-up!” the Briton said.
Asked if he and Toto had a meeting since then, and if these talks are usually done over a pizza, Lewis said:
“No, we never have pizza! I’ve seen Toto, we’ve talked several times, we have a great relationship but there’s nothing else to say at the moment.”
Pressed on whether there’s been any progress made with his contracts, he said:
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“Yeah… but nothing else new to really add to it.”
Lewis did, however, say more to Sky Sports F1:
“We had a good meeting just recently. They are very complex contracts. It’s not just a simple driving contract.
“Right now I’m planning to be here and racing for a decent chunk of time. You have just got to explore all avenues in the sense of how you can continue to expand your partnership with such a great organisation.
“It’s not as easy as just saying ‘go ahead’, and I don’t have to be in a rush.”
“And then I don’t really have a huge amount to say on the contractual side of things. It’ll get done when it’s done.
“If that’s next week, if that’s in a month’s time, as long as it gets done I’m not really bothered.”
Some of these other avenues Lewis mentioned are initiatives he launched with Mercedes, like the Mission 44 charity.
Asked if these are also part of his contract discussions, Lewis said:
“We already covered a lot of that already in the previous contract. We have an amazing group of people in the factory that are really focused on Ignite.
“There has been huge progress within our team since we first had serious conversations.
“With Mission 44 I’m really proud of where we have got it to. We are now funding 25 or 26 different organisations out there.
“Starting to really have an impact and hopefully we will have a fresher chain coming through with more diversity,” Hamilton concluded.
