Lewis Hamilton 's seventh world title has been confirmed but his place on next year's grid is not. Toto Wolff has suggested that contract negotiations could begin after the final race in Abu Dhabi.
With three races left to go in the season, it looks like Mercedes are still focused on maximising their points, rather than future contracts. Wolff pointed towards the end of the year as a chance to look at contracts.
"I think more than likely, we are looking towards the end of the year," Wolff said as quoted by Motorsport.com. The Austrian is very confident that it will come to a successful conclusion. "Not that we wouldn't find time for each other, but I don't want to put ourselves under pressure to say before Bahrain or before Abu Dhabi we will announce a new contract. There isn't any pressure. When it's done, it's done.”
Hamilton has confidence
Lewis Hamilton suggested a similar situation after his victory in Turkey. “I wanted to put it aside and wait until the job is done. So, probably about these next weeks - we've got three weeks in the Middle East - now it's a bit more chilled, but I still have three races ahead of me that I want to win, " he said, stressing that there is still some work to be done to get everything right on paper. "It's not done but we will get it done, I'm sure."