Toto Wolff has dismissed speculation in the media regarding the retainer Mercedes has agreed upon with Lewis Hamilton to secure a prolongation of the British driver's services.
The German insisted rather on the long-term nature of the agreement which spans three years and aptly proves both parties quest for stability and constancy.
"The discussions around the contract have been out there for quite a while," commented Wolff. "We had the terms already a couple of weeks ago and declaring that it was a three year term seemed reasonable to us, in order to show that it’s a long term relationship and stability is important for us. On the figures out there, I can’t really comment. The only thing I can say is that there have been lots of nonsense out there as well."
Wolff was put to task by a journalist remarking, rather foolishly, that Hamilton would allegedly be earning in the next three years about five times as much as Mercedes-Benz's own CEO, for working ten percent of the time based on speculation Hamilton's contract is worth 33 million pounds a season.
But Wolff responded accordingly: "I can’t even comment on that question. This is a market and in that market you have a value or you don’t. Lewis is one of the best racing drivers out there, maybe the best at the moment and he has a huge value for the brand and fundamentally this is what drives his value and this is a classical win-win situation for the team and for himself."
Click here for a look at the technical updates brought by all the teams at the start of the European season
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
When F1’s radically redesigned 2026 cars finally roll out in Barcelona at the end of…
Max Verstappen has never been one to sugar-coat reality – and as Formula 1 braces…
Ferrari have survived decades of criticism about strategy calls, driver politics and pit stops that…
While the paddock has been whispering for months that Mercedes might be holding the winning…
Dan Gurney passed away on this day in 2018, and here at F1i we'll never…
What began as a painful reminder of loss has ended with a moment of profound…