'It's not common for a champion to be the last driver under contract'

If Formula One analyst Karun Chandhok is to be believed, there is something going on at Mercedes that no one outside the team should know about. Lewis Hamilton doesn't seem to be entirely satisfied with his current employer and Chandhok feels the way his contract extension went was 'uncommon'.

Secretive situation at Mercedes

"There is something going on over there that they don't want to tell us," Chandhok said in an interview with Finnish news agency STT about Mercedes. Earlier, Martin Brundle, Chandhok's colleague, revealed that Hamilton came across as somewhat 'grumpy'.

Chandhok says it is unusual that Hamilton's contract extension was so long in coming. "It is not common for the world champion to be the last driver in the entire team to make a contract, and it’s not common for the best team in Formula 1 to have a vacancy until January."

Contract negotiations did not go smoothly

Hamilton has been driving for Mercedes since 2013 and has been a six-time champion with the team. His previous contract expired after the 2020 season and there seemed to be disagreements over the Briton's salary. Currently, Hamilton is under contract with the German team for 2021 only.