Hamilton plays waiting game with Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton is out of contract with Mercedes at the end of the season, and while there is not a deadline in place for him to sign his new deal, it was perhaps a surprise to see that he spent last weekend in California at the Coachella music festival.

Off the back of a disappointing weekend in Shanghai last time out, and Hamilton’s rather lowly position in practice here yesterday, his Mercedes team are, by their recent high standards, struggling. In difficult times, you need to have all hands on deck, rallying together and understanding what has gone wrong. That responsibility does not rest solely with the managers of the team, but the drivers, too.

Hamilton’s future has now become another unknown among all the others that Mercedes are having to deal with. They have been quick enough to win all of the first three races, but circumstances prevailed that they failed to so. Has Hamilton not signed a new deal because he is unsure if the tide is turning and Mercedes’ dominance is coming to an end? We can safely assume that if he continues it will be with the Silver Arrows, but is he of the mind that he could now turn around and decide not to continue?

Contract negotiations are only ever about how long you want to commit, what rights you retain and what rights you give away to the team, and money, so, we are only talking about three subjects. Hamilton may be just nine points behind Sebastian Vettel in the race for a championship which remains wide open, but it is in his interest, and certainly that of Mercedes, to get his contract over the line.