Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says Lewis Hamilton’s future is “almost all sorted”, admitting that discussions were put on the backburner while the team focused on car performance.
Hamilton joined Mercedes from McLaren on a three-year deal in 2013 and renewed his contract for the same period of time mid-2015, meaning he is out of contract at the end of 2018.
Hamilton and Mercedes have both frequently emphasised that neither party is looking elsewhere for 2019, though earlier suggestions that the situation would be wrapped up pre-season failed to materialise.
Wolff, though, emphasised that priorities for both sides in recent weeks have been elsewhere, and that there is no reason to doubt a deal will be soon finalised.
“Obviously we don’t want to lose him and I don’t think he wants to go anywhere else, everything’s going fine,” said Wolff.
“I think it’s just how you feel towards each other and there is no reason why we shouldn’t be racing with each other for a few more years.
“We had other priorities in the last few weeks. We weren’t happy with our car’s performance and we needed to sort things out.
“Finalising a contract is something that you need to involve yourself in and spend time, and we both decided we’d park it for a minute where we were.
“But it’s almost all sorted and we will pick it up at the right time. This is what we will do and we will let you know as soon as possible.”
Hamilton, 33, briefly spoke about his future after the race, explaining: “we do talk about it and we are not really far away from finishing things so it will happen hopefully in the near future.”
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