Wolff on Hamilton: 'Then he can go on for much longer'

Lewis Hamilton showed a fine piece of racing in Spain. While Max Verstappen was up front for a large part of the race, it was the Englishman who eventually took the victory. Toto Wolff hopes to keep him on board for a longer period of time.

The Mercedes team boss stressed in conversation with PA that his team is very satisfied with Hamilton's performance. Although last year's contract negotiations were difficult, Wolff wants to be out of it faster with the seven-time world champion this year. "We don’t want to be in a stressful situation every single year where we are absolutely flat-out trying to win races and needing to negotiate. I would rather that doesn’t happen every year."

Wolff thinks it's important to sit down with each other quickly. "We just need to spend a day or two together, put it out there, and decide which are the difficult components. We will then lock the door and won’t walk out until it is sorted. That works best for us and it has worked best for us in the past."

Hamilton is now 14 points ahead of Max Verstappen and therefore has a good chance of winning an eighth world title, although the season is still long. Wolff thinks Hamilton can still compete in Formula 1 in the coming years. "As long as Lewis continues to look after himself mentally and physically, continues to develop cognitively, then he can go on for much longer."