Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has said the team needs Lewis Hamilton to make a decision on his future in Formula One before the end of the season, but he’s “pretty sure” that the Brit will stay with the Silver Arrows.
“It must be this season. You can’t start a new year without knowing what your driver line-up is,” Wolff said in an interview with Channel 4.
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“Having said that, I’m pretty sure it’s going to continue like it is [Hamilton will remain a Mercedes driver].”
Continuing, Wolff said there’s no doubt that Lewis Hamilton deserves to be the highest-paid driver of his generation, and he stressed that their arrangement with the six-time World Champion is all about both sides meeting their “performance” obligations.
“He was always the highest-earning driver of his generation and he always will be.
“What we have allowed him to do is to follow his other hobbies and passions. We totally embrace his way of living, his travelling, which is totally different from any of the other racing drivers, and I respect that,” he added.
“The deal is performance. The performance from our side, to bring him a car that is able to win, and performance from his side to be the quickest driver out there, and he’s never failed to do that and I hope we’ve never failed him either.”
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