A lot of speculation, a lot of rumors – but as things stands; Lewis Hamilton is set to announce a decision about his future soon. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has said the team cannot end this year without a decision from the defending champion Hamilton on his future.
The British legend has been with the Silver Arrows since 2013 and has, since then has gone on to establish himself as the second most successful Formula 1 driver of all time with six Drivers’ Championships, and he is quickly closing on a seventh this year to draw him level with Michael Schumacher, the man who he replaced at Mercedes.
Talking to Channel 4, Toto said, ”It must be this season. You can’t start a new year without knowing what your driver line-up is.”
“Having said that, I’m pretty sure it’s going to continue like this. With the intensity of this season we just didn’t have the time to spend the day properly with each other because you want to recover in those in between,” said the Austrian.”
“We keep it pretty loose, and at a certain stage we’ve already said we’ve got to sit down and take the old contract out that we haven’t looked at since three years ago and say, ‘Okay, what do we want to change in that?”
However, Toto’s future himself in under doubt, with many rumors linking him to other franchises or leaving the sport for good. Mercedes themselves have been reportedly looking for other avenues of investment, having reportedly lost interest in the sport because they have established a complete hegemony in F1.
Interestingly, Toto has gone on to say that Hamilton would continue being the highest-paid driver in the game. He said, “He was always the highest-earning driver of his generation and he always will be.
“What we have allowed him to do is to follow his other hobbies and passions. We totally embrace his way of living, his travelling, which is totally different from any of the other racing drivers, and I respect that.”
“The deal is performance. The performance from our side, to bring him a car that is able to win, and performance from his side to be the quickest driver out there, and he’s never failed to do that and I hope we’ve never failed him either.”
Keep watching this space for more updates.
