15 June 2023 , 20:47
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Mercedes are NOT planning to announce a new contract for Lewis Hamilton this weekend, Mirror Sport understands.
The seven-time world champion's current deal expires at the end of this year. But the expectation for a while now has been that the Brit will commit his Formula 1 future to the Silver Arrows.
Hamilton said at the Spanish Grand Prix that he planned to sit down with team boss Toto Wolff to iron out the final details. And Wolff said earlier this week the driver was "days" away from putting pen to paper.
That hinted at a possible announcement ahead of this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix. But no such news came ahead of media day on Thursday – before which any big news tends to be released so it can be discussed.
And Mirror Sport understands, as reported by Sky commentator David Croft, that Mercedes don't have an announcement planned for the rest of the weekend either.
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Croft told Sky Sports viewers: "As far as I understand it, and I've gone and done my chats this morning, nothing this week for Lewis Hamilton and the contract announcement. I know we had some words of teasing from Toto Wolff at the start of the week. Both Lewis and Toto were together in New York, where they may or may not have had a contract chat or two.
"But Lewis made it clear the last time he spoke publicly about it that it was his management team that were sorting out the contract negotiations. But as far as I'm aware, the Mercedes team aren't preparing a press release. Nothing is on standby to go out this weekend.
Toto Wolff said it won't be long until Hamilton's new Mercedes contract is signed (Getty Images)"A Lewis contract, which is more likely to be two years with an option maybe for an extra year on top of that, is not going to be announced this weekend. Lewis is more concentrated on trying to add to that wonderful record here in Montreal of seven wins and six poles."
Regardless, Wolff has admitted that it won't be long until Mercedes fans finally get confirmation of the news for which they have waited patiently. "It is going to happen soon, and we are talking more days than weeks," he said.
"From a team's perspective, Lewis and Mercedes have gone back a long time. He has never raced for any other brand than Mercedes. We both joined the team in 2013 together, and from a professional relationship, we now have a friendship. It has been a wonderful time."