Hamilton is relaxed over new deal as season looms

Lewis Hamilton is hopeful of signing his bumper new Mercedes contract before opening the defence of his Formula One championship in Melbourne.

The new season starts a week on Sunday, and after a strong fortnight of winter testing, Hamilton will start as the firm favourite for a fifth world title.

The 33-year-old British driver is out of contract at the end of the year but anticipates dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s on a new deal in the very near future. Hamilton’s new contract, which is expected to take him through to the end of the 2020 season, is set to earn him up to £40million a year.

Hesaid:“ihopeitwillhappen [before Melbourne]). “We have of course got this year to focus on, but it will happen. We have been talking and continue to talk. It is quite a relaxed atmosphere for us because Mercedes know I am committed to them, and they have expressed they are committed to me.

“Ultimately with contracts and partnerships you always want to work on how you can do better and to provide that service and vice-versa, by how you can extract more from each other so that is what we are working on.”

Mercedes’ executive director Toto Wolff was more succinct.

“It’s all good,” he added with a smile.

After eight days of testing and number-crunching, the common perception is that Hamilton’s Mercedes team will once more have the edge. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time of the winter in Barcelona but Mercedes again proved their reliability.

Much has been made of Hamilton’s desire to continue in F1 and cast his name alongside the sport’s immortals by becoming only the third driver after Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher to win a fifth championship.

He said: “The great thing is that we are always wanting to move forward. If I saw anything in my team that wanted to compromise and wanted to stand still then I would know that I am in the wrong place.”