Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes are set to sign a new deal which will see the current championship leader staying with the Anglo-German outfit until 2018.
It’s believed the three-year deal is worth a total of £65 million ($96m) excluding potential bonuses for race wins and championship victories.
His annual salary could therefore reach upwards of £30m ($45m), made up of a basic salary of £21.6m ($32m) and bonuses exceeding £8m ($12m) if he wins another title.
It’s the first time the Briton has negotiated his own deal after splitting with his management team last year. Contract talks started in November but will finally come to an end this week according to sources.
The new deal would currently see Hamilton become Formula 1’s third highest paid driver behind Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso, though with bonuses, he will likely be the highest paid come 2016.
Alonso earns £27m ($40m) a year with McLaren-Honda for the duration of his contract, whilst Vettel will pocket £34m ($50m) this year as part of a ‘golden handshake’ deal with Ferrari which sees him collect all possible bonuses without having to actually achieve them.
However that deal expires at the end of the year, where he will be on a base salary just less than Hamilton’s new deal.
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