For some, Lewis Hamilton has been God Sent to the Mercedes team. When he joined the Brackley-based team in 2013, Hamilton was already a world champion once. He had won a driver’s championship back in 2008. But after the F1 legend Niki Lauda instigated the inspiring move of the great Briton from McLaren to Mercedes, history was made.
Mercedes has a long history in Formula One that dates back to the 1950s. But the new Mercedes team that formed after buying the Brawn GP team in 2010 did not have many successes winning titles. However, since the turbo-hybrid era with Lewis Hamilton, the Brackley team has literally dominated the F1 grid. Until 2020 Mercedes and Lewis were unbeatable together. Apparently, Hamilton is in his last year of the contract with the team. And until now, no new update regarding the new contract has come from either side.
Why Is There No New Contract Between Lewis Hamilton & Mercedes?
In a gap of a couple of years, things changed significantly for Lewis Hamilton & Mercedes when Max Verstappen & Red Bull came into power. After all, the team and the star have been through, the focus has gone straight to the retirement question of Hamilton. All of a sudden, him being 38 currently has become a big deal. However, all these questions can be answered with a new contract extension between the two. The last and ongoing contract ends after this year. The big question at the moment is why the two are taking so much time to extend their contract.
The 1996 F1 champion, Damon Hill, has raised a lot of questions on what is going on in the head of Lewis Hamilton at the moment regarding a contract extension. Lewis Hamilton is the second-highest-paid athlete in Formula 1 currently, and there is a good reason for that. For Mercedes to get back to title contention, a lot will depend on the seven-time champion. Hill suggests that even if Hamilton is 38 at present, it won’t matter because nowadays, drivers are training so well that they can carry on with their careers even beyond 40. The best example is Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin.
What Is Hamilton’s Biggest Motivation If He Wishes To Continue?
But Hill is speculating on what is the biggest motivation to stay on the grid for Lewis Hamilton. Is it winning the coveted eighth title? Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton have expressed their feelings to continue several times. But the fact is the team has made no final decision as of yet. Everybody is curious, why? Hill suggests an explanation. That is probably because both the team and the star are waiting to see how competitive they perform in the upcoming season. The opening Grand Prix of the 2023 season kicks off in Bahrain very soon.
Another explanation Hill gives is the availability of George Russell on the team. Hill states that Lewis may provide a lot of strength to the team. But he takes big bucks in return as well. On the other hand, the young George is capable of winning titles for the team. Other than these explanations, Lewis Hamilton also has a lot of interests outside the F1 world. So perhaps the seven-time champion is thinking about giving time to those interests a little bit more. But these speculations and explanations mean nothing because only the star and the team knows the answer. At the right time, the fans and experts will get all the answers they have been looking for.