Lewis Hamilton contract: F1 ace should be wary of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen pay cut threat

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Red Bull have discussed cutting drivers’ salaries, Dr Helmut Marko, head of Red Bull’s driver development programme and advisor to the team, revealed on Thursday.

This should be a warning to Lewis Hamilton, who remains embroiled in a contract dispute with Mercedes.

The Mercedes seat alongside Valtteri Bottas is the only seat yet to be filled ahead of the 2021 season.

It is widely expected that Hamilton will return in search of his eighth world title. However, with every passing day, doubts grow over whether he and Mercedes can come to an agreement.

It is reported that the disagreement between Hamilton and Mercedes comes down to money. Hamilton is said to want £40million per year and be compensated in line with what he believes a seven-time world champion should be.

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That is also the opinion of Sky Sports’ David Croft, who revealed earlier this year that he believes the sticking point in discussions between the team and the driver is financial. “I would imagine the chat is about money,” he told Sky Sports. “It normally is when it comes to contracts despite both sides trying to play that one down.

“Lewis Hamilton is now a seven-time world champion and would want to be recompensed for being a seven-time world champion and would want to have a salary that reflects his years of dedication to the sport and his success within it.

“Mercedes I’m sure would not want to be paying Lewis Hamilton every single dollar that he might be demanding at the moment.

“But they’ll get their heads together and sit down and thrash it all out before we open up in Bahrain on March 2.”

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While Croft remains confident that Hamilton will re-sign, Red Bull have discussed cutting drivers’ salaries in a threat to Max Verstappen and a word of warning to Hamilton.

When speaking about freezing engines and the financial benefit it would bring, Marko told Auto, Motor und Sport: “We have a cost limit.

“We are also talking about reducing the drivers’ salaries. To invest even more in the engines now makes no sense.”

Verstappen signed a new three-year deal before the 2020 season. He finished third in last year’s Drivers’ Championship, almost 100 points clear of fourth-placed Sergio Perez.

He was the highest non-Mercedes finisher and is one of the highest earners in the field.

Hamilton, meanwhile, may feel that he can get a better deal elsewhere if the Silver Arrows do not meet his valuation.

While that would have to wait until after the 2021 season with every other team’s driver line-up confirmed, his desire to be remunerated sufficiently seems clear.

Marko’s warning to Verstappen, then, and Hamilton by extension, should be heeded. Formula One is going through a cost-cutting period, and Hamilton should be wary.

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