Hamilton wants 2022 deal sorted by summer
Lewis Hamilton is eager to get a new Formula 1 contract with Mercedes sorted by the summer break to avoid a repeat of this year’s late agreement.
Hamilton and Mercedes took until February this year to announce a one-year contract extension for the 2021 season after postponing talks through last year. The seven-time world champion has previously said that he was not treating 2021 as his final season in F1, and has made comments that he intends to be on the grid with Mercedes in 2022 after a recent Pirelli tyre test to help develop next year’s rubber.
Hamilton said after last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix that he is looking to open talks with Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff sooner than in 2020, targeting the August summer break as a point by which he would like his future sewn up. “We never want to be in the position that we were in in January, in February,” he said. “It ruined my whole winter and I’m sure it wasn’t helpful for Toto’s, in terms of being out to be off and relaxed, so it felt like we didn’t really have much of a break.
“I think we have to be sensible. Naturally we don’t have to rush anything but I think we have to be sensible and start conversations.
They’re very complex. It’s never a super-simple procedure and so hopefully soon we can start, as long as it doesn’t interfere with the actual job. We still have 19 races to do, but it would be great to get something in place before the break so then we could be in that break and have a clear picture of the future.”
Mercedes currently has two free seats for the 2022 season, with Hamilton’s team-mate Valtteri Bottas also out of contract. Mercedes junior George Russell will be a free agent upon the end of his existing Williams deal, making a move up to the senior squad a possibility. Wolff said on Friday at Barcelona that it was “far too early” to discuss next year’s Mercedes line-up, having ruled out a mid-season switch for Bottas.
Another name thrown into the mix last weekend was Esteban Ocon, a former Mercedes junior who was in the frame for a seat in 2020 before joining Renault, and has “impressed” Wolff so far this season with Alpine.
Wolff said it was a “weird situation” with Ocon given their loose ties, but felt the first port of call for his future lay with Alpine. “I think it needs to be Laurent [Rossi, Alpine CEO] and Esteban’s call first, how to continue, before we start to give an opinion,” said Wolff.