Toto Wolff: "New Hamilton contract as good as done"

Toto Wolff says Lewis Hamilton's new contract is "as good as done". The Mercedes chief had hoped to get the signatures on paper prior to Melbourne, but amid rumours of squabbles over details, delays were announced.

Germany's Sport Bild now claims that Hamilton's new contract for 2019, 2020 and 2021 will earn him a cool $60 million per year. "It is as good as done," Wolff said. "We are absolutely on the same wavelength. But a contract like this is over 100 pages with a corresponding number of points to address. And all that has to be done first," he added.

By the time late 2021 rolls around, Hamilton's new deal will have made him a staggering $184 million, raising the question of whether any driver is worth that much.

F1 legend Gerhard Berger argues: "Yes. Without Lewis, Mercedes would be only third behind Ferrari and Red Bull. Hamilton is the fastest driver on the grid. He can make the difference. So Mercedes has to do everything to secure him," the former Ferrari and McLaren driver added.

Meanwhile, Wolff insisted that a team strategy error that cost Hamilton victory in Melbourne will not be repeated in Bahrain. "We made sure we understood what went wrong and that it cannot be repeated in a similar way in the future," he said. (GMM)