“Age plays no role” - Are Mercedes willing to pay Hamilton more in new F1 deal?

Hamilton’s current contract runs out at the end of F1 2023, although the seven-time champion has reiterated his desire to remain in F1 over the next couple of years.

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At 38, Hamilton is the second-oldest driver on the grid behind Fernando Alonso, with Mercedes set to embark on his 17th season in F1.

Despite his age, Hamilton remains close to the peak of his powers, even though he ended 2022 without a victory or pole position. 

Speaking after the launch of Mercedes’ 2023 challenger - the W14 - Wolff was asked whether the team would be willing to reward Hamilton with a more lucrative deal even though he was in the twilight years of his career.

“I think the age, 38, plays no role for this next contract,” Wolff told media including Crash.net. “If you look at how well athletes, top athletes, have pushed the boundaries. I’m thinking about Tom Brady, 44/45, he’s on the pitch throwing a ball and being tackled, so the age plays no role. 

“In terms of the contractual situation, I think we’ve always found good solutions that reflect his value for the team and the sport, and on the other side Mercedes is the place he wants to be. 

These things have never been a contentious point. You mentioned dragging on, nothing is dragging on, the alignment is great, and like in the years before I think it caused more hysteria with you that we didn’t announce anything but within us it was no problem to sort things out during the winter before actually going racing because it was always clear we were going to do that. 

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“It’s almost like not like a first priority, sitting down, as this is going to be a journey that will continue.”

Wolff refused to give a timeframe about when an agreement would be reached with Hamilton.

“I think as I said before we have done a few of these contracts in the past and they change little from iteration to iteration so it’s not usually complex, apart from the obvious terms,” Wolff added. 

“But no, we’ve had a first chat, but I don’t want to commit to any timeline as it’s not important for us or him at this stage, it runs a full year, and we’re going to find the right time.”

Mercedes endured their worst campaign in 11 years in 2022, finishing third in the constructors’ championship with just one victory and pole position courtesy of George Russell.

Even though Mercedes struggled relative to recent years, Wolff insists that Hamilton remains “very positive” and “motivated” to get back to title-winning ways.

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“How he appears to me is in great form, very positive, motivated, energised, maybe the best so far I’ve seen in those 10 years after the winter,” Wolff explained. “He knows what he has win the team, we won eight constructor titles in a row, and I’m not saying anything you don’t know, we got it wrong last year. 

“The resource, the capability is there, we just need to continue to develop like we’ve done last season, so I don’t think it plays in Lewis’ mind any doubt that the team can perform. We will. Eventually.”