Lewis Hamilton makes admission about new Mercedes contract

While many teams expected Mercedes to come out in 2022 under the new regulations firing on all cylinders, the team struggled massively to find the right design pathway for the W13.



Not only was their car significantly off the pace compared to Red Bull and Ferrari, the W13 suffered with a severe porpoising problem which forced Mercedes to halt all development for the first half of the season while they found a solution to the bouncing.



After the heartbreak of 2021, where Max Verstappen narrowly beat him to the championship title in controversial circumstances, Lewis Hamilton would have been hoping to avenge the injustice last season by winning his record breaking eighth world title.



The 37-year-old failed to win a single race over the course of 2022 however, as the Silver Arrows struggled to match their rivals until the latter end of the season where upgrades saw the W13 become more competitive.







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Hamilton is expected to sign a multi-year contract extension over the winter break, but the Brit has revealed that talks have not even begun yet as his mind flickers on a daily basis when thinking about his future.



“We haven’t started with that yet,” said Hamilton when asked about his contract.



“So far we haven’t had the time, we’ve been on the road for two months at a time. Sometimes you wake up and have this feeling: I don’t want to do this anymore. And sometimes you wake up and think: I can still do other things my while life, there is definitely more I want to achieve.



“It won’t be a terribly long time now, but I’ll definitely be staying. I think retiring as a world champion is a dream that every athlete has, and so do I.”




Christian Horner reveals bizarre Adrian Newey argument https://t.co/tAeWXaSi5m — Formula1News.co.uk (@Formula1newsUK) December 28, 2022




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Toto Wolff as also claimed that his driver’s contract renewal is formality, suggesting that there is so much on Mercedes’ to-do list that Hamilton’s contract has been put on the back burner.



With Red Bull feeling the effects of their cost cap breach penalty next season and Ferrari adjusting to their new management, there could be no better chance for Mercedes to return to winning ways in 2023.



George Russell managed to outscore Hamilton in 2022, meaning that should the W14 be a competitive car next season, the Silver Arrows could be in for a repeat of the Nico Rosberg-Lewis Hamilton title fight that ended so toxically less than a decade ago.
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