It has been a while since the seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton made his debut in Formula 1. As he is heading toward his 39th birth anniversary, he is counted among the veterans of the sport. Now, the team principal of Mercedes, Toto Wolff is of the opinion that Hamilton competing for Mercedes right now is very different from the driver who was at the team earlier in his racing career.
Regardless of such emotions developing in the team chief, Wolff declared, “When heās not great mentally about how the car is going, we try to support him, and when you can see when the engineers didnāt know what to do next on the track on race weekend, itās he who cheered everybody up and brought the right attitude as a driver.”
With such comments, the Austrian made it evident that Hamilton has been a supporter of the team and part of a more prominent family.
#F1: Toto Wolff on Lewis Hamilton: āHeās still able to scrutinise himself every day in order to become a better person, a better racing driver, a better manager, a better entrepreneur, and a better human being.ā
āPeople who take it for a fact that āThis is who I am,ā thatās notā¦
ā deni (@fiagirly) August 24, 2023
Although the British driver is yet to sign his contract for 2024, it is widely accepted that he will do so given that both Mercedes and Hamilton have lately made it clear that they want to keep working together. It is only a matter of time until the Silver Arrows team or the driver or their representatives make an official announcement regarding the same.
Is Lewis Hamilton signing a contract extension anytime soon?
The agreement will reportedly be formalized in due time and some claim that it may even have already been achieved. Lewis Hamilton’s tenure as a competitive Formula 1 driver is slowly coming to an end as he approaches 40.
Although instances like Fernando Alonso and his return show that competing at an older age is possible, he still is a liability to the team. Furthermore, an essential issue about the level of commitment that each party expects from the other is still open for debate.
1 month ago today Lewis Hamilton got his 104th pole and set another record š pic.twitter.com/V1dfFMmNs8
ā Tom Sp8 ć ā (@Tom_Speight98) August 22, 2023
The Mercedes car department without a doubt created one of the best racing cars from 2014 to 2021. One can expect the team to do the same in the near future, which might be one of the possible reasons why the Briton is believed to be loyal to the team. But the team’s recent performance over the past two years has been in sharp contrast, and this deterioration has undoubtedly impacted Lewis Hamilton’s confidence in the rest of the team.
Both Hamilton and Wolff have publicly spoken about how their professional rapport has evolved into a close friendship that goes beyond the interactions between colleagues and employees.
Wolff went on to say that despite Hamilton’s outstanding achievements, the British driver never gave up trying to get better and evolve, both on the racetrack and off it and it is a matter of time to watch the duo win another world championship in the near future.