Just went to see Bernie to collect my pole trophy and the big boss already told me the result of the 2015 championship. I'm very happy with it

Hamilton contract negotiations going nowhere fast

Here at TJ13, we’ve been tracking the rhetoric from both sides of the contract negotiation between Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes.

Both parties are clearly doing some of their negotations via the media. Toto Wolff chose to reveal it would be no big deal should they fail to find agreement with Hamilton when he stated that Bottas and Alonso were waiting in the wings.

Hamilton has dropped management company XIX and is dealing with contractual matters for the first time himself. “I’m not too sure I’ve enjoyed it,” said Lewis. “It’s a very, very nerve-racking experience. But I’m glad I’ve done it. If I’d not done something like this I would have always wondered if I could or could not.”

The British F1 double world champion has let it be known through ‘select sources’ that he expects to be the highest paid driver in Formula One, presumably because he is the current world champion.

Lewis’ latest comments on the matter, don’t appear to reign in this ambition. “It’s not about status and being the best paid because you’re world champion, it’s just a natural thing.”

“It’s gradual progressions along with the team. As the team progress, I want to as well. My target, like every driver is to work towards being the best.”

What this form or words means in actuality is impossible to determine, though Hamilton’s current contract for £20m is believed to be well short of the £40m Vettel is receiving from Ferrari as reported by The Times last week. Further, the Guardian reveals that Stuttgart was reticent to agree to £20m a year, and is not inclined to double this number

“Hopefully we’re in the final stages [of talks],” the Brit now reveals. “I don’t really know what the timeline is but we’re very much in the last stages of it. I’m committed to this team for the foreseeable future.”

The timeline has been that Mercedes opened contract negotiations with Hamilton back in June 2014. The team were forced to concede that whilst Lewis was competing for a championship, matters should be put on hold.

This led Toto Wolff to reveal recently, that he and the team would prefer to finalise negotiations with Hamilton prior to the season opener in Australia – when of course Lewis will again be competing for titles.

The sticking point is the amount of money. Lewis set out his stall at the beginning of the Jerez test when he claimed, “I am 30 now. I am my own man. I know my worth.”

Yet Hamilton may need to understand that Mercedes view of ‘his worth’ is be very different from his own. With a car/engine package that is so dominant, Stuttgart are not desperate to employ a driver who is the most expensive on the grid and see this as unnecessary for them to deliver both the driver and team F1 championships.

When questioned in Jerez about the contract negotiations, Lewis told reporter, “We want to stay together. We love each other, basically.”

Hamilton will now have realised that in life at times, love is just not enough. Both he and Nicole have repeatedly and publicly declared their love for each other, however, the end of the road has finally arrived for that relationship.

If reports are to be believed, Hamilton refused an ultimatum from Shertzinger, which required him to marry her and begin producing children. Refusing to comply, Lewis withdrew from the negotiations.

The irony is that Mercedes will do the same with Hamilton if he persists on demanding to be the highest paid Formula One driver in 2016.

Sources close to Hamilton have revealed Ferrari have offered to make Lewis the highest paid driver in the sport, as they seek to replace Raikkonen in 2016.