Barcelona, Spain - Lewis Hamilton says he’s about to end his will-he-or-won’t-he contract saga by signing a new Mercedes deal, believed to be worth £120 million (R2.28 billion), before the Monaco Grand Prix.
The double world champion dropped a clear hint that the news will then be announced at the world’s most glamorous motor race a week on Sunday.
Speaking after finishing second to Nico Rosberg at last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, Hamilton said: “I will have some news for you in Monaco . . . “
If so, and there is not yet another hitch, it will end tortuous negotiations that go back a year.
The process was protracted by the Mercedes board in Stuttgart, who look to do things by the book and were reluctant to wreck their pay structure by agreeing to Hamilton’s demands.
Hamilton has also asked to keep his image rights, his trophies and winning cars. Usually, trophies and cars stay with the team while drivers sometimes receive replicas.
SILVERWARE COLLECTOR
From his earliest days, Hamilton has cherished keeping his prizes at home, resenting having to give back floating trophies so they could be passed to the next winner.
Both Mercedes and Hamilton are keeping quiet about details of the agreement they have apparently reached, but it seems likely the driver will earn in the region of £40 million (R760 million) a year, making him the best paid driver on the grid alongside Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.
Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivebene has already ruled out signing Hamilton, leaving him with no suitor who could promise a car and personnel to equal those at Mercedes.
Hamilton has also negotiated his own deal - even handing pieces of paper to team principal Niki Lauda with his latest, hand-written contract requests - with help from London-based lawyer Sue Thackeray, a long-time member of the Hamilton family’s inner circle, whom he trusts implicitly.
By cutting out his old manager, Simon Fuller, Hamilton, who lives in tax exile in Monaco, now has no need to share his money with anyone.
He must feel like the man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo.
Daily Mail