LEWIS HAMILTON wants to have his new Mercedes deal tied up within the next few weeks to end wild speculation about his future.
Hamilton says he has enlisted his management team to handle negotiations with Mercedes boss Toto Wolff after telling them his demands, believed to include wages of around £50million per season.
The 38-year-old, who has always maintained it is his intention to commit to a new deal, also says his decision will not be influenced by the team’s winless run.
He said: “When you are in contract negotiations there is always going to be speculation. And unless you hear it from me, that’s all it is.
“My team is working closely behind the scenes with Toto and we are almost at the point of having the contract ready.
“I’m having the team focused on that so I can just do my job. It’s a much better position than I used to be in before, because I used to do the negotiations on my own and it was very stressful. I don’t have to do that anymore.
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“I have a great team doing all the work. I say what I want and that is what we are working towards. Hopefully [it will be signed] in the coming weeks.”
After ruling out any advances from rival teams, Hamilton said Mercedes’ current predicament will not alter his feelings.
And he says there is renewed hope they will be able to turn their hopes around after bringing a whole host of new parts to improve performance at this week’s Monaco GP.
Hamilton, who walked into the paddock with gold “grillz” across his teeth, added: “No, it doesn’t have a bearing.
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“We are still a championship winning team, it’s just we’ve had the wrong car and made some decisions over the past few years that have not been ideal.
“We are working through that and all the energy is going towards the new upgrade this weekend.
“The team has worked incredibly hard to bring this upgrade and we already decided after Bahrain it was what we are going to do.
“I was a little bit gutted when the last race got cancelled because I was excited to try this new package, and while here is not the best platform track wise to really see those come to fruition, we will hopefully experience that more next week.”
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Meanwhile, Hamilton’s team-mate George Russell has confirmed he has swapped London for living in Monaco.
He said: “I’ve been here for over five or six months now really, really enjoying it to be honest. It exceeded my expectations.
“Being a kid from the country, growing up in a field and looking at grey skies and nothing other than a Labrador, to being here…
“It’s a great community – got some good friends, jumping in the sea every single day and training in the sunshine.
“It’s probably the happiest I’ve ever been in my life to be honest, so I am very glad to have moved here.”
Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk
