Team principal Toto Wolff has said Mercedes are “100% committed” to keeping Lewis Hamilton and expects to see the former world champion chasing a record eighth Formula One title next year, despite reports the British driver could walk away from the sport.
There has also been speculation in the paddock linking Mercedes with a move for Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, but the Monégasque driver has said he was “fully committed” to the Italian team.
Wolff said of Leclerc: “I think he’s 100% committed and loyal to Ferrari and it’s his contract, and in the same way we are 100% committed to putting pen to paper with Lewis. I think nobody doubts Charles’s ability and he’s a good guy.
“The only time I talked to him was to ask where the gate is in Melbourne to board the plane. No contact otherwise,” Wolff added on formula1,com. “Charles is a super guy, and for the long-term future someone you need to always have on your radar and that’s clear. But not for the short- or the medium-term.”
Hamilton will be 39 next January and has not won a race since the December 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix when he took a record 103rd victory, with his team playing catch-up to now-dominant Red Bull. Hamilton is out of contract at the end of the season and there have been suggestions in the media about his future, despite both the Briton and his team saying they want to agree a new deal.
“I think he feels very much that he’s strong and we feel the same, that we are not going to race for a drivers’ championship this year,” said Wolff. “That is what it looks like at the moment, and we just need to give him a car that can do that. Hopefully we can get our package to a winning package this season and have something that can bring him his eighth title, and no doubt he is motivated to achieve this.”
Hamilton is fourth in the championship, 45 points behind Red Bull’s double world champion, Max Verstappen, after four of 23 races and with Miami next up this weekend. He was second in Australia last month. Red Bull have won every race so far, three of them with one-two finishes.
