Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff has stated that he had no issues while negotiating with Lewis Hamilton over his latest Mercedes contract. During the Italian Grand Prix weekend, Mercedes announced that Hamilton had extended his contract until the end of 2025. Teammate George Russell, who joined Mercedes last year, also has a new deal in place for the same time period. Hamilton’s future was a prominent topic of discussion in recent months as his previous deal was set to expire at the end of the current campaign. The seven-time World Champion was even briefly linked to Ferrari, however he brushed off such suggestions and asserted that his future lay with Mercedes.
‘No harder than previous contracts’
Although the deal was announced only a couple of months before he was due to become a free agent, Wolff has said that he and Hamilton agreed on major terms months ago. The Austrian revealed that the matter holding up the remainder of the deal was lawyers discussing Hamilton’s marketing commitments as part of the contract. When asked by media including RacingNews365 if the new deal was harder to negotiate than previous ones, Wolff said: “No. No, it wasn’t. “I think Lewis and I were clear on the major terms in June or July. “And then things are just turning around, obviously. Not drifting, just bubbling along. “Then there was the summer break. In the end, it was things about marketing, not really the big relevant topics. That took a bit of time. “Sometimes with lawyers, they will actually play ping pong. I mean, I was obviously splendid, but the other side wasn’t!”
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