Lewis Hamilton contract: Brit won’t like it but George Russell is a real Mercedes threat

F1: Lewis Hamilton goes cross-country skiing

In one of the more elongated and unexpected contract impasses in recent Formula One history, Lewis Hamilton is yet to sign a new deal with Mercedes.

The defending world champion — a seven-time world champion, no less — is yet to secure his seat for the 2021 season.

And with testing a little over a month away, the pressure is on for the two parties to come together and find an agreement.

The major spanner in the works is Lewis’ reported wage demands. He is said to want to be paid as a racer of his pedigree, performance, and profile should be, which is ostensibly higher than what Mercedes are willing to offer at present.

It has also been reported that Hamilton wants a multi-year deal, something that Mercedes are hesitant to commit to given he turned 36 earlier this month.

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Differences in the terms of the contract are nothing new. Drivers and teams have been negotiating over them for years. But in this instance, there is another hurdle to overcome that adds an added layer of complexity to the situation, whether Hamilton likes it or not.

When Hamilton missed the Sakhir Grand Prix due to contracting the coronavirus, George Russell stepped in and performed excellently. He may have slipped to ninth place by the chequered flag, but he qualified P2 and led the race for large portions after passing his teammate, Valtteri Bottas, entering Turn 1.

It was only a faulty pit stop in which Mercedes mistakenly put Bottas’ tyres on his car before having to pit again the very next lap to amend the error and a puncture later in the race that scuppered his chances of a maiden Grand Prix victory.

Indeed, while Russell may not have won in Bahrain, the F1 world took notice.

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“For me, that was the race George Russell substituted for Lewis Hamilton,” Damon Hill told the In The Pink podcast.

“I’m sorry for Lewis and Valtteri, but at that point, a star was born. He was given a golden opportunity and did a great job, but unfortunately, it didn’t end well. But he did show what he’s capable of.”

Russell’s presence and performance makes Hamilton’s contract negotiations more difficult than would normally be expected.

Hamilton may not like it, but Russell is a threat to the seven-time world champions, as former F1 driver and pundit Christijan Albers explained.

“Lewis thought that it would all work out, that he would become world champion and that he could therefore increase the pressure for a higher salary,” he told The Telegraaf’s Formula 1 podcast.

“What he didn’t realise was that he would get coronavirus and that George Russell would get in the car and actually shatter his whole plan, literally and figuratively.”

Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff, though, says that he has not and will not use Russell as a threat against Hamilton.

“In our long-term partnership it is never about any threatening gestures,” he told ORF’s Sport am Sonntag program via Grandpx.news when asked whether Russell has been used a threat in negotiations with Hamilton.

Whether Mercedes would be brave enough to move on from Hamilton and commit to Russell is another question altogether.

But whether Wolff admits as much, Russell’s presence alone is a threat to Hamilton’s demands, and that is enough to cast doubt over whether the Brit really will get what he wants.

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