No team-mate clause in Hamilton contract

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Lewis Hamilton does not have a clause in his contract requiring him to approve his new Mercedes team-mate, but is willing to help evaluate potential candidates.

Mercedes needs to replace Nico Rosberg in 2017 after the world champion's shock decision to retire from racing in F1. While they have had their flashpoints, the Hamilton and Rosberg pairing was a successful one as they delivered three consecutive championship doubles for Mercedes.

Asked if he will have a say in who his new team-mate is, Hamilton replied: "I’ve never been a driver to ever request that.

"I know a lot of the other drivers - Sebastian [Vettel], Fernando [Alonso] - make sure that is in their contracts. I’ve just always asked to have equal rights so as long as we’re treated fairly it doesn’t really matter who is alongside me. We’ve got great team bosses who I am sure will choose the right people to be represent the brand.”

And Hamilton says he is willing to help Mercedes with his opinion of different drivers if they ask him, but will not make a special effort to influence the decision.

"Honestly I really don't care, but I guess I'd have to think that if they want to talk to me they can talk to me about it. Ultimately, it would have to be someone who would work well in the team.

"There will be stronger characters and less-strong characters who will be able to deal with the competition or not be able to deal with the competition. Some drivers who would take alternative routes to be able to deal with the competition. There will be a good and bad one out there for sure. I'd be more than happy to help with that analysis."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.