Lewis Hamilton had talks with Mercedes’ executive director, Toto Wolff, here on Sunday and is believed to be close to signing a £60m three-year deal that would tie him to the team until the end of 2018.
The Formula One world champion’s existing contract does not expire until the end of this year but a fresh deal is expected to be finalised before the season gets under way in Melbourne on 15 March.
Hamilton said on Sunday: “We want to stay together. We love each other, basically.” Niki Lauda, Mercedes’ non-executive chairman, added: “There is no problem with the contract. He wants to sign it. We want him to sign it. There is no rush. We just need to find a time to do it and then all the speculation can go away.”
Last year it was thought Mercedes were about to offer him something less than his current salary, which is about £20m. But that is difficult now, because Hamilton had the best season of his life to beat off the challenge of his team-mate, Nico Rosberg, and win his second world title.
Hamilton added: “We are in talks and in the near future it will be sorted. We have to make sure it works for both of us. The confidence we give each other is that they want to continue with me and vice versa but it’s been like that for ages.
“Last year there was excitement at one point to get it done around Russia [in October] but I said: ‘Guys, this is the most important period of my life. I don’t want to think of anything else.’
“Contracts and stuff can be as stressful as anything, so I was telling them all I wanted to do was win the championship. So I said: ‘Let’s leave it to the end. I’m not speaking to anyone else and I know you’re being called by a certain individual but I’m solely focused on things, so I won’t be making any calls.’ So they said they would make sure it was not a distraction.”
Fernando Alonso last year identified Mercedes as the best team to help him win a third world crown but he joined McLaren from Ferrari on a three-year deal and will not be around to challenge for a seat at Mercedes in the near future.
Hamilton, who is managing his own affairs, said: “[McLaren’s chairman and chief executive] Ron Dennis is a very smart man. He would never sign Fernando for one year and Honda would never do that either.”
Hamilton is aiming for a third championship that would pull him level with his hero Ayrton Senna. He said: “The greats had three championships. I’ve always said since I joined Formula One that I wanted to emulate Ayrton. And I know there is no other team that could give me a greater opportunity.”
Hamilton, 30 last month, said the Sports Personality of the Year award he won in December “meant more to me than any other trophy or award”.
He added: “I can honestly say that I didn’t have any trophies in my apartment in Monaco, at all. But I brought that one home and put it on my mantelpiece. It’s the first trophy I’ve had at home in the whole of my career, apart from when I lived at my parents’ house. I put it up the other day. Knowing it was the public that voted was what really hit me.”
Hamilton will have his first test outing in Mercedes’ new W06 on Monday but the good news for him and the team is that Rosberg completed more laps (157) than any other driver on the first day of testing; Alonso managed only six. The Ferrari new boy Sebastian Vettel (60 laps) was fastest on the opening day. But at this embryonic stage of the season it is piling up the laps that really counts. Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull suffered overheating problems, its smoke spoiling the brilliant Andalusian sunshine.
