Team delayed negotiations until after the season finale to allow Briton to focus on driving; Rosberg agreed new mulit-year deal in July
Monday 24 November 2014 14:20, UK
Mercedes plan to open talks with Lewis Hamilton over a new long-term deal as soon as Sunday’s Abu Dhabi GP is out of the way.
The Briton’s contract with the Silver Arrows expires at the end of next season, but the team are keen to retain the man they poached from McLaren in 2013 far beyond that.
"We want him very much to stay for many more years," Head of Mercedes Motorsport Toto Wolff was quoted as saying by Reuters.
"He's great for the team, he's part of the family, the relationship we all enjoy is more than just a professional racing relationship between driver and team. It's on a different level."
Hamilton’s team-mate Nico Rosberg agreed a multi-year extension to his deal earlier this season and Wolff says they delayed the 2008 World Champion’s contract talks to allow him to concentrate on the title fight.
"We did that very consciously even when the rumours accelerated around other drivers and our team,” he revealed.
“We sat down again and said ‘Should we maybe take those conversations forward?’ and we decided 'No, it's not the best thing to do'.
"And so on the Monday or Tuesday after Abu Dhabi we will sit down and discuss and hopefully find a solution quickly."
Hamilton recently split from management company XIX Entertainment, but Wolff doesn’t think that will impact upon negotiations.
"Lewis is a very intelligent and mature person now who knows more about Formula One than many other managers out there," he said. "I think he can represent himself in a good way, he has good support from consultants he needs to have, be it legal or tax or whatever.
"He knows what he wants and is straight about it."
A new deal for Hamilton would all-but extinguish Fernando Alonso’s hopes of moving to the Silver Arrows in 2016 as he looks to win a third championship before retiring. There has been talk that the Spaniard, who is expected to join McLaren from Ferrari in 2015, could sign a short-term deal to keep his options open for any vacancy at the new Constructors' Champions.
