Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton speaks to the media throughout a information convention forward of the Canadian Grand Prix Formula One.
| Photo Credit: AP
Mercedes had hoped to have an replace on a contract extension for seven-time Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton by the point the sequence arrived on the Canadian Grand Prix. Despite ongoing talks, Hamilton stated on June 15 in Montreal he had no replace on his future. He had been scheduled to fulfill with Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, who had hinted a decision was imminent.
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Hamilton, who turned 38 in January and is looking for a multi-year extension, performed coy as to how talks have progressed. Asked if he and Wolff had “hooked up” as scheduled, the British driver tried to brush it off.
“We’ve never hooked up,” Hamilton deadpanned. The moderator then clarified to ask if the boss and driver had met for a pizza.
“We’ve never had pizza,” he replied.
On the third try, Hamilton kind of acknowledged contract talks had occurred with no deal struck.
“I’ve seen Toto, we’ve talked several times,” stated Hamilton. “Yeah. Nothing else actual to essentially add to it.”
It was far less information than Mr. Wolff had offered last week during a CNBC interview when asked about Hamilton’s future.
“It is going to happen soon, and we are talking more days than weeks,” Mr. Wolff said on the “Squawk on the Street” program. “We have such a good relationship that we dread the moment that we need to talk about money. From a team’s perspective, Lewis and Mercedes have gone back a long time.”
“We both joined the team in 2013 together and from a professional relationship, we now have a friendship. It has been a wonderful time,” Mr. Wolff continued. “He is crucial persona within the sport. He is so multi-faceted, not solely the racing but additionally off monitor, so we have to maintain him within the sport for so long as attainable.”
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Hamilton began his profession with McLaren, which was Mercedes-powered, in 2007. He made the transfer to the Mercedes crew in 2013 and has scored 82 of his document 103 F1 victories driving the Silver Arrows. Hamilton has received six of his seven championships with Mercedes.
He’s within the remaining 12 months of his current contract and has insisted he desires to increase his profession and stick with Mercedes, regardless of persistent rumours he is being courted by Ferrari. The Canadian Grand Prix had been circled as a celebratory spot to announce a contract extension as a result of it’s each the location of Hamilton’s first profession F1 victory again in 2007, and, his seven wins at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is tied with Michael Schumacher for many in F1 historical past.
Not having it buttoned down on that timeline didn’t trouble Hamilton.
“I don’t really have a huge amount to say on the contract side of things,” Hamilton stated. “It’ll get done when it’s done. If that’s next week, if that’s in a month’s time, as long as it gets done it doesn’t really bother me.” Hamilton has beforehand denied he is been approached by Ferrari.
Despite the dearth of stories on his contract, he remained upbeat about Mercedes’ current efficiency, which included a shock 2-3 podium end for Hamilton and teammate George Russell in Spain two weeks in the past.
“We’ve been making progress in the car and the last race was just phenomenal, we’ve all been buzzing back at the factory, the whole team just has this new energy and it kind of feels like we have a North Star,” Hamilton stated. “We know where we’re going, we know how to get there, so everyone’s just churning away and working as hard as possible.”
“I’m excited about coming here. We generally don’t know whether this track suits our car and the car’s characteristics but the weather may change that and we’ll see.”
Hamilton, who has not received a race for the reason that 2021 season, famous he did not must do a rain dance based mostly on a forecast that’s calling for moist climate right through Sunday’s race.
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Red Bull enters the Canadian Grand Prix an ideal 7-0 this season and is looking for its one hundredth victory on June 18. For Max Verstappen, the defending race winner, a victory can be the forty first of his profession and tie him with the late Ayrton Senna for fifth on F1’s all-time win record.
“Max has been doing an amazing job, he’s had such an incredible career so far and he’s for sure going to surpass that,” Hamilton stated. “We’re working on [our] car so we can slow him down.”
