Hamilton clarifies his future: “We’re close”

It is said that the negotiations for the renewal of Lewis Hamilton with Mercedes They stalled and, coincidentally or not, then news broke of a possible multi-million dollar offer from Ferrari to Hamilton for 2024 in ‘Daily Mail’. However, the British pilot wanted to end any speculation about his future in the press conference before the F1 Monaco GP 2023. The 7-time world champion referred to this news as mere “speculation” and revealed that negotiations with Mercedes over his signing of a new contract are nearing completion.

“Naturally, when in contract negotiations, there will always be speculation. And unless you hear that from me, that’s speculation,” Hamilton said.

“As I said, my team is working with Toto (Wolff, Mercedes team boss). We are nearing the end of having a contract.” Lewis, when asked where the rumors of a possible offer from Ferrari came from, pointed his words to a journalist present in the press room.

“There is one particular individual in this room who wrote at least one of these (speculations). Maybe last weekend, with the cancellation of the (Imola) race because of flooding, they were just bored.”he pointed out, making it clear that in these conversations he trusts his own team of people to focus on driving.

Mercedes’ performance “doesn’t influence” his decision

“Having the focus of the team there so I can do my job is a better position than before, because I remember I used to trade alone and it was very stressful, so I don’t have to do that anymore. .” He commented, reiterating that his Mercedes’ poor performance in the last two seasons “does not influence” these negotiations and his willingness to continue with a group he considers his family.

“We’re still a title-winning team, it’s just that we had the wrong car. Some decisions were made in the last two years that weren’t ideal and we’re working to overcome that and put all our energy into that,” he said, with confidence that the star box will be able to get out of the current hole.

New package for Monaco

In this sense, Hamilton is eager to test the important package of improvements that Mercedes has in Monaco, among other novelties, some side pontoons, leaving behind its ‘zero pontoon’ concept.

“We have a new update this weekend, the team worked hard to bring this update. After Bahrain we decided this is what we will do. I was a little devastated when the last race (of Imola) was canceled because I was excited bring this new package in. And although it’s not the best track to see how they feel, we hope to experience that more next week (in Barcelona).