Mercedes has reportedly blocked Lewis Hamilton’s contract extension over $300 million worth demand

The seven-time world champion is yet to seal an extension with Mercedes, despite expressing a strong desire to continue.

Mercedes has reportedly blocked Lewis Hamilton’s contract extension over $300 million worth demand

Lewis Hamilton (Credits: News18)

Lewis Hamilton secured an impressive podium at the Canadian GP, making it consecutive stages for himself and Mercedes. The Briton has become family at the Mercedes garage, and a major cause for concern has been his contract renewal with the team. After the Spanish GP, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff and Lewis Hamilton himself had both assured that they would sit down together to agree as quickly as possible.

However, it seems a consensus is yet to be reached. The main obstacle in the contract negotiation is a highly challenging request by Hamilton’s team. They are seeking a ten-year brand ambassador position worth over $300 Million with Mercedes, which can only be approved by the board in Stuttgart, the headquarters of Mercedes’ road car manufacturing operations. Unfortunately, there seems to be little interest in committing to such a substantial financial investment.

Hamilton provided more insight at Montreal, telling the press, “It’s more complicated than usual because it’s not just a simple driver contract.” This hints that his ambition is beyond the confines of the race track and his cockpit.

He is also reportedly only being offered a one-year deal by Mercedes and Toto Wolff, while he would prefer a multi-year extension. How this saga unfolds will be revealed in the coming weeks, setting Lewis Hamilton’s future in stone in F1.

Related: Lewis Hamilton admits Mercedes has got a ‘lot of work to do’ after Canadian GP podium, but is delighted to share the stage with ‘two World Champions’

Lewis Hamilton has admitted the W14’s flaw despite scoring a podium in Canada

Lewis Hamilton (Credits: The Mirror)
Lewis Hamilton (Credits: The Mirror)

Hamilton secured a deserving podium finish at the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday following an impressive start. He claimed the third position, closely trailing fellow World Champions Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. He was clear, however, in stating the reason behind his inability to beat Alonso, attributing it to a lack of pace in low-speed corners.

Although Hamilton made a brilliant move past Fernando Alonso into the first corner, he couldn’t maintain the position as the Aston Martin driver successfully regained it later in the race and retained second place. While there may have been a slight disappointment, Hamilton’s performance was undoubtedly successful.

Speaking after the race, he admitted, ” I was really excited to be third and just trying to be in that mix. But unfortunately, we didn’t have the pace today. We knew that this weekend, this wouldn’t be our strongest circuit as we struggle in the lower speed corners particularly, and that’s really where I was losing to Fernando and to Max – just on traction out of Turn 2, out of pretty much every corner.”

Hamilton reiterated the work required to add rear downforce to the W14 and praised the progress Mercedes are making in eventually battling for wins. His gap to Alonso ahead is now 14 points in the drivers’ standings, and he will certainly aim to overcome that deficit in Austria during the next race weekend.

In case you missed it: