Red Bull boss: ‘Grotesque sums of money’ holding up Hamilton deal
MONTE CARLO, Principality of Monaco: Red Bull boss Christian Horner claimed Thursday that Lewis Hamilton’s contract talks with bitter rivals Mercedes were being held up because of ‘grotesque sums of money’.
The defending four-time world champion is out of contract at the end of this year and has joked about joining German rival, fourtime champion Sebastian Vettel at Ferrari.
“I should think it’s such a grotesque amount of money that Toto ( Woff, Mercedes team chief) is talking about, it probably is what’s making his and Niki’s ( Lauda, team director) eyes water at the moment.
“He (Hamilton) has an expensive lifestyle. He’s a four- time world champion and I doubt he’s cheap. I can only envisage that that’s probably got something to do with the delay.”
Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas had on Wednesday urged Hamilton to end the procrastination and sign his new deal.
Wolff, who sat alongside the outspoken Horner at Thursday’s press conference at Monaco, refused to rise the bait.
“There is a bit of email pingpong on details,” he said.
“And I don’t want to set a date because then you will be asking me why, why hasn’t it been done, but maybe we choose one of the nice Grands Prix in the future, in the next couple of months.” — AFP