Lewis Hamilton is edging towards signing a new Mercedes contract and a deal could be struck within weeks.
The seven-time World champion sees his current deal expire at the end of the season with previous reports suggesting that he could leave the team. Ferrari have been linked with an audacious swoop.
It was previously suggested that they were preparing a mega-money £40m offer to Hamilton. However, the 38-year-old has hinted that he could agree fresh terms within weeks, whilst he has also addressed the speculation that he could leave. As quoted by The Sun, he said: “When you're in contract negotiations there is always going to be speculation.
“And unless you hear it from me, that's all it is. My team is working closely behind the scenes with Toto and we are almost at the point of having the contract ready.
"I'm having the team focused on that so I can just do my job. It's a much better position than I used to be in before, because I used to do the negotiations on my own and it was very stressful. I don't have to do that anymore.
"I have a great team doing all the work. I say what I want and that is what we are working towards. Hopefully [it will be signed] in the coming weeks."
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Meanwhile, Hamilton also moved to shut down talk that he could move to Ferrari come the end of the season. Asked whether the Italian team had lodged an offer, he replied: “No.”
Hamilton has endured a frustrating start to the new season and is yet to claim a win after five matches of the campaign. His best race saw him finish second in Australia at the start of April.
That leaves him sitting fourth in the 2023 driver standings, whilst teammate George Russell occupies sixth position. Elsewhere, Mercedes sit third in the constructor standings with Red Bull having already put together a comprehensive lead.
Hamilton has suggested that the frustrating start will not have an influence on his future. He added: "No, it doesn't have a bearing. We are still a championship winning team, it's just we've had the wrong car and made some decisions over the past few years that have not been ideal.
"We are working through that and all the energy is going towards the new upgrade this weekend. The team has worked incredibly hard to bring this upgrade and we already decided after Bahrain it was what we are going to do.
"I was a little bit gutted when the last race got cancelled because I was excited to try this new package, and while here is not the best platform track wise to really see those come to fruition, we will hopefully experience that more next week."
