Toto Wolff hopes Lewis Hamilton can follow the example set by Tom Brady by adding to his silverware haul beyond his 40th birthday.
Hamilton turns 38 in January, and his current Mercedes contract expires at the end of next year. But despite previous suggestions that he would not want to remain in Formula 1 for too much longer, he now looks set to extend his stay.
After hints that he had changed his tune, Hamilton confirmed ahead of the Mexican Grand Prix weekend that he plans to continue with Mercedes. "We are going to do another deal," said the seven-time world champion. "We're going to sit down and we're going to discuss it in these next couple of months, I would say."
In a later interview, he added that it would be a "multi-year" deal, making it highly likely he will still be racing in his 40s. His team boss Wolff revealed talks have not yet begun, but he expects the details to be ironed out in the off-season.
"We haven't started any talks," confirmed the Austrian. "We want to definitely finish the season and then find some quiet time over the winter like we did last time around. He's much more than a driver to us now.
"And although we're not talking about a career end, it's also important to speak about his role as an ambassador for Mercedes and the many sponsors we have and the implication he can have in our wider universe."
As sports science continues to evolve and other technological advances are made, athletes are staying at the top level longer than ever before. In F1 the obvious example is Fernando Alonso, still competing well for Alpine aged 41, while in the NFL Brady won his seventh Super Bowl ring as a 43-year-old in 2021.
Wolff pointed to the American as a prime example to Hamilton, proving that the top prizes can still be won by athletes even well into their 40s. "You can see today's athletes pushing the boundaries in terms of age," he added.
"For me, Fernando is performing at a very high level and you look, for me, at the best athlete in the world – Tom Brady – on the field being tackled and throwing a ball at 45 years old. As long as you continue to look after yourself and your cognitive sensors, I think he has many more years in him. I'm pretty certain that's going to be case here in the team."
