Lewis Hamilton has described the length of his two-year contract extension with Mercedes as “strategic” and thanked team boss Toto Wolff for his patience as talks dragged out.
Hamilton has also revealed another leading team – either Red Bull or Ferrari – approached him as he dithered over signing a new deal with the world champions.
After months of negotiations stretching back to the start of the year, Hamilton’s new deal – believed to be worth £40m a year, making Hamilton the highest-paid British sportsman – was signed this week and announced on Thursday ahead of this weekend’s German GP.
“I really appreciate Toto being so patient with me because l am not the easiest,” said Hamilton. “Most people wouldn’t have given the timeframe l chose to take.
“But it shows the trust we have between each other.”
Hamilton signs new Mercedes deal for 2019 and 2020
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What now for the F1 transfer market?
According to Hamilton, it was that trust which then caused the talks to drag out – or, more accurately, to be on hold – with the driver assuring the team he was not interested in moving elsewhere and the team content to wait for their prized asset to re-commit.
But asked whether Red Bull or Ferrari made contact as Hamilton and Mercedes continued to check the small print on his new deal, the 33-year-old confirmed:
“One did but I didn’t give it any air.”
Hamilton declined to elaborate further or clarify whether the team in question was Red Bull or Ferrari.
Hamilton waits on F1’s future
Hamilton’s two-year extension sees the Mercedes driver mirror the commitment title rival Sebastian Vettel has made to Ferrari and Max Verstappen at Red Bull.
With the sport’s look and feel for 2021 and beyond yet to be agreed or defined, almost all of the deals around F1 current run to the end of 2020 and Hamilton admitted he was reluctant to commit further.
“We were talking about doing a three [-year deal] but Formula 1’s shapes are shifting and F1 is not committed to all the teams moving forward beyond 2021 and l am interested to see how that all plays out,” he said.
