TAKE A PAY CUT, LEWIS
Mercedes to offer him HALF £40m asking price
Lewis Hamilton’s future in Formula One is suddenly in doubt with Mercedes boss Toto Wolff set to offer him half the £40million salary he is demanding.
“At the moment our priorities lie with Lewis and Valtteri”
LEWIS Hamilton’s future in Formula One is suddenly in doubt with Mercedes boss Toto Wolff set to offer him half the salary he is demanding.
As Sportsmail reported on Thursday, the six-time world champion is asking for £40million a year to stay at Mercedes beyond his current deal, which expires at the end of the season.
But Wolff will not countenance any such figure. A source revealed: ‘Toto has told people around him that about £20m is as far as he is prepared to go.’
Mercedes will tell their star driver that the world situation has changed since coronavirus struck. The pandemic has brought about a strict budget cap for next year of £130m, with further reductions due to be introduced over the coming seasons.
That means hundreds of job cuts in the industry, a backdrop that makes Hamilton’s demands for an increase on his existing £36m salary seem outlandish. Mercedes, who employ 1,000 staff on their F1 programme in Northamptonshire, will have to trim or redeploy 300 of the workforce.
Wolff’s direction of travel was made clear in recent discussions over the budget cap. It can be revealed that he argued for a $25m (£20m) limit on driver salaries, which are so far exempt from any restriction.
Hamilton, 35, believes his record as an 84-time race winner entitles him to great riches, even though that would be bucking a trend towards diminishing salaries across the sport.
Even Ferrari decided to release Sebastian Vettel — the only driver on a similar pay grade to Hamilton — after Covid-19 struck.
They signed Carlos Sainz from McLaren to partner Charles Leclerc instead, a far from lavish line-up for the grid’s traditional biggest spenders.
If Wolff holds firm, Hamilton must decide whether to accept a major pay cut or move on, either to retirement or, if a seat were available, to a new team.
He has always been drawn to Ferrari but there is no opening at Maranello for 2021.
Wolff talked yesterday of there being ‘no urgency’ in negotiations with the Briton, saying they would ‘take the next steps soon’. But sources close to Wolff say he believes Hamilton has limited bargaining power, his options elsewhere being closed.
He is keeping Vettel, the four-time world champion, in the picture as a possible replacement.
Wolff said: ‘I like Sebastian a lot. He’s my neighbour in Switzerland. He’s one of the great drivers in F1. But at the moment our priorities lie with Lewis and Valtteri Bottas, and we would very much like to extend their contracts.’
Meanwhile, Red Bull last night protested the legality of Mercedes’ reinvention of the steering wheel ahead of tomorrow’s Austrian Grand Prix, which marks the return of major international sport after the corona virus created fa mine.
It is not a case of back to normal. Spectators are banned. Masks are worn. Sanitiser is rubbed in. But certain verities pertain: Hamilton led the way in both practice sessions again, his car still the cream at the top of the bottle.
The man himself looks in prime physical shape, a touch more muscular after three-and-a-half months of hibernation in the gym and pounding the pavements.
As for his machine — blackliveried rather than silver, as a nod to the racial equality cause he is espousing — it is helped by the controversial, Red Bullchallenged DAS system (dual axis steering).
This enterprising device allows him and team-mate Bottas to move the panel they hold in their hands not only right and left but forwards and backwards.
The novel adjustments deliver optimum set-up for both straights and corners by altering the angle of the wheels.
‘It’s a very clever system,’ said Red Bull team principal Christian Horner. ‘All credit to the ingenuity behind it. The fundamental question for us is: does it comply with the regulations?
‘We’re after some clarification from the FIA. We have questions about it.’
A decision awaits. Ironically, Red Bull have set about emulating DAS, which broke cover in preseason testing a lifetime ago in February, and are believed to be close to fitting their own version of the same soon if the FIA declare the Mercedes within the rules.
All we know for sure of the schedule for now is that eight races are planned over the next 10 packed weekends. So 18 rounds, finishing in Abu Dhabi in December, is the aim. There are no guarantees.
Max Verstappen, in the Red Bull, is the man most likely, just conceivably, to stop Hamilton. He is fearless, young, aggressive.
‘He has the ingredient of self-belief,’ said Horner of the 22-year-old, who is remarkably starting his sixth season.
Last year he took a second successive victory at this track — the Red Bull Ring. Hamilton has won here once, in 2016.
Another winner in Austria is
Bottas, the following year. If the Finn should fail to land an early blow, it is hard to imagine him keeping his confidence high or denting Hamilton’s.
What else is there to watch? Vettel at Ferrari. The German has been told he has no future at Maranello from the end of the season, which means he is now slipped the pressures of corporate responsibility.
His relationship with the team and his replacement as No 1, Leclerc, has the potential to turn toxic. It will be political at best.
Talking of politics, all eyes will be turned towards the grid tomorrow and the planned statement on the big racial contention of the day. To take a knee or not to take a knee?
This was the question discussed at a long meeting of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association last night. The millionaires’ trade union decided as one to wear ‘End Racism’ T-shirts. As it stands, so to speak, some of them will kneel, some won’t.