Lewis Hamilton says he is ready for “friendly yet intense” discussions with Mercedes over his Formula 1 future, as he prepares to negotiate a new deal.
Hamilton has already outlined his desire to remain in Formula 1 beyond the end of 2020, when his current deal expires, and has intimated that he wants to remain with Mercedes.
Hamilton, who clinched a sixth world title at the United States Grand Prix, is set to conduct his own negotiations with Mercedes, as he did during discussing his current deal.
“Obviously I have considered the next couple of years and naturally I want to continue racing, I love what I am doing, and I see no reason for me to stop any time soon,” he said.
“But in terms of future, future, no I have not planned absolutely everything, and I am continuing to work on that.
“Your ideas shift each year, opinions shift slightly each year but it is crazy when you are in a contract…it is like I only just did this contract and already have to start talking about potentially the next one, which is frustrating!
“Because it is another stressful moment where you have to get into the room, get into the ring, and have a friendly yet intense conversation about terms and all of this kind of thing. I am used to it and I like to think that I am a relatively good negotiator.”
Expanding further on the negotiation period Hamilton said: “I think it is just confrontation isn’t it? You are both trying to see what more you can get out of it, how you can do things better, things that you have to change and it takes years to change some of the formalities that we go through within this team.
“The team has been amazing, the team working around to help lighten the load but make it more impactful, the way I work with the engineers, lots of different things, it won’t be really stressful to be honest.
“But it is daunting when you think of it coming up because also you are committing to a period of time in your life and it is sometimes hard to imagine that far ahead, but of course it is nice to be wanted, so hopefully soon we will get that sorted.”
