Mercedes entered the new year with just one driver confirmed for next season, with Lewis Hamilton’s contract with the team expiring at the end of 2020 and him yet to ink a new deal.
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According to rumours, Hamilton and Mercedes have struggled to agree a contract extension as the seven-time World Champion is demanding a pay rise.
Mercedes recently dismissed these reports as “pure fiction” and downplayed the likelihood of Hamilton not racing with the Silver Arrows in 2021.
And, in a recent interview, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has said they are ready “for all kinds of curveballs” with regards to their driver line-up.
“It doesn’t worry me at all, because I will always respect Lewis’ decisions,” Wolff said.
“Whether this is staying with us for a long time, or whether that means leaving the sport and pursuing different interests. I think we need to be ready for all kinds of curveballs being thrown at us.”
In the same interview, the Austrian also suggested he believes that Lewis Hamilton’s success is partly due to him understanding that the entire team doesn’t revolve around.
“The best men means the quickest driver and the most intelligent driver.”
Continuing, he said: “One that understands how the dynamics in a team works, its technical ability, and on the other side seeing himself in the right context within the organisation and not like a solar system where everything revolves around the sun.
“Equally, the organisation around the driver needs to be on its absolute A-game in order to deliver performance in the various areas.
“This means on the engineering side, on the commercial side, on the political side, and on the communication side, in order to keep the wheels rolling,” Wolff added.
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