Lewis Hamilton offered little insight into his contract situation ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix, despite recent meetings with Toto Wolff to try and agree a new deal.
Following the end of the last race in Spain, Hamilton said he would be meeting up with Wolff on the Monday after the race to discuss an extension to his current contract that expires at the end of this season. However, with no announcement of any agreement in the week since, Hamilton says he’s not in a position to offer any further update on the progress that’s been made.
“I’ve seen Toto,” Hamilton said. “We’ve talked several times. We have a great relationship. But there’s nothing else to say. Yeah, (there’s been progress)… Nothing else new to really add to it.
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“I don’t really have a huge amount to say on the contract side of things. It’ll get done when it’s done. If that’s next week, if that’s in a month’s time, as long as it’s done, it doesn’t really bother me.”
Mercedes has slipped from competitiveness under new regulations, and Hamilton has not added to his tally of 103 victories since late 2021. At the circuit where Hamilton equaled Ayrton Senna’s pole record of 65 pole positions back in 2017, Max Verstappen can also match Senna’s tally of 41 victories this weekend, and the seven-time world champion says his overall record could be at threat from the Dutchman.
“For me it was very surreal, being five years old, watching with my dad, and the dream was to be like Ayrton,” he said. “And then the dream was to get to Formula 1 and do something like him. And then to find out you’re equaling in terms of results, ultimately, it’s unfair because there’s a lot more races in our time than there were back then… But still, it was a real honor.
“They gave me a replica helmet, something like that. So that was very cool. Max has been doing an amazing job. He’s had such an incredible career so far. He’s for sure going to surpass that. We’re working on getting the car where it needs to be so we can slow him down!
“He’s got a very long career ahead of him, so absolutely (he could exceed 103 wins). Ultimately records are there to be broken, and he’s got an amazing team. But as I said, we’ve got to work harder to try and continue to extend it. At least within the last period of time in my career, I hope we get to have some more close racing.”