Lewis Hamilton to walk away at the end of 2020?

[cider_and_toast]

With one month left to run on his Mercedes contract and still no sign of pen and paper meeting in signature harmony, Lewis Hamilton increased the speculation about his future, telling Autosport there's no guarantee he will be in F1 next year.

So the big question is, after breaking Schumacher's wins record, would Hamilton be content that he's done enough?

Is he waiting until he gets a better picture of what next years Mercedes looks like?

Traditionally he's never rushed to sign deals anyway and has often pushed signing contracts into the off season. Is this another example of both parties being comfortable with each other and knowing that a deal will be done in due time?

Will Hamilton be on the grid in 2021 and if not, who will be in his car?

 

[F1Brits_90]

for me i think surely not i feel it must be negotiating tactic, as why would you leave. your looking pretty set for an 8th world title, 107? wins 115? poles. because as we know red bull are competive in 2nd half but not the 1st half. also i said a few times Mercedes need hamilton & hamilton needs mercedes. because alot like sir alex & man utd in football. 1 without the other & neither have the level of success.

but if im to take it seriously for a minute. could it be age because i forget that by the end of 2021 he will be older than when Lauda retired, similar age to when alonso, button left or Barrichello won his last race & 6 months younger than schumacher last race win, all them were considered old at the time. because i keep thinking he's in his early 30's or is it struggling for motivation. because as they always say its hard to stay at the top because once youve reached your goal. what is there to train for. he has broken the wins record, pole record, podium record. british gp wins record, ferrari constructor record, will match schumacher title record & won in every season

& then it could be he feels its time it wouldnt be the 1st to shock us especially at mercedes with rosberg. lauda passed away, wolff leaving. does that make him leave

 

[olegg]

Hamilton doesn't need to rush into signing a contract.
He definitely has at least a month to do it.
On the other hand, it is very interesting what the trade is about.
Money, terms or both...

 

[The Artist.....]

Is he waiting until he gets a better picture of what next years Mercedes looks like?

Given that this year's cars have to carry over to next year, next year's Mercedes will be much like this year's - fast faster fastest...

 

[gethinceri]

he’ll sign when he’s ready and feels the $ are right.
non story, just standard f1

 

[cider_and_toast]

Interestingly, Hamilton has signed 3 contracts for Mercedes so far. The first came after Schumacher announced his retirement in November 2012. The next one was signed in May 2015 and the next in July 2018.

It was only at the end of his time at McLaren he let his contract run down without signing another.

Basically, his two previous contract extentions at Mercedes had been signed well before the end of the season.

 

[P1]

My guess is he wants to see what it feels like to wake up as 7 time world champion, and then ask if he feels the hunger for the 8th.

 

[cider_and_toast]

Don't get me wrong, no world championship win is easy but perhaps part of that feeling may not be about the hunger to win an 8th but the challenge to win it.

The sweetest victories are often the ones where you had to fight the hardest to achieve the win.

I could play chess players who aren't as good as I am (and believe me I'm not great) and I could win 9 out of 10 matches but after a while that wouldn't be very satisfying.

I wonder if Hamilton would like more of an opportunity to show how genuinely good he is?

 

[Brogan]

Perhaps he just doesn't want to do a Vettel?

 

[Bill Boddy]

Are you saying that Bottas will not be there next season are you Brogan?

 

[F1Brits_90]

Don't get me wrong, no world championship win is easy but perhaps part of that feeling may not be about the hunger to win an 8th but the challenge to win it.

The sweetest victories are often the ones where you had to fight the hardest to achieve the win.

I could play chess players who aren't as good as I am (and believe me I'm not great) and I could win 9 out of 10 matches but after a while that wouldn't be very satisfying.

I wonder if Hamilton would like more of an opportunity to show how genuinely good he is?

yeah i would agree on that. well ive described this before like playing your 5 yr old nephew or being 14-0 up on fifa on the easiest setting. then getting bored in 2nd half. there is no challenge at the moment because if lewis turns up & has incident free race he wins because this is 1988 & he is 1 of greats in 1 of great cars

i mentioned when rosberg retired or when federer won Wimbledon for 9th time. its extremely rare that champion sportsman get a fairytale ending. its usually on a low ebb

 

[Galahad]

Lewis:
"There’s a lot that excites me for the F1 afterlife, so time will tell.”

Maybe it's not so much about falling out of love with F1, as falling in love with something else? He spoke often with Lauda of course, and that was very much Niki's approach to retirement: give 100% focus and intensity to a new challenge (not that I see Lewis building an airline, but you know what I mean).

An eighth title must be hard to turn down, though, especially as it would be a virtual certainty as The Artist..... says.

 

[olegg]

Obviously, Hamilton is not an ordinary person. And it's hard to guess for him what he thinks about his career.
And public discussions about the value of his achievements probably also put psychological pressure on him.
And I wouldn't be surprised if he decides to do "not ordinarily" and doesn't renew his contract with Mercedes,
but tries another team or takes a break.
This development will make a lot more noise than a ordinary contract extension

 

[Angel]

Surprise, it's me

Maybe it's because Toto won't be team boss, or maybe it's because he doesn't want to sign a contract that is longer than 1 year and the team do. After all in 2022 isn't the budget cap coming in? When that happens he's not going to get the mega bucks he does now, none of the drivers will I assume. It could be any of those reasons or the ones listed above, who knows.

 

[F1Brits_90]

welcome back Angel id been thinking about you for a few months, nice to have you back youve not missed anything. hamilton still dominating, bottas still competing more with verstappen than hamilton

yes it could be contract length. i remember the new rules being a huge reason as to why it was 2021 & as i say you forget how old he is & wouldnt want a 3yr contract & maybe just like kimi have rolling 1 yr deals

 

[RasputinLives]

Welcome back Angel. Hope you're not just joining us because the mods have closed everywhere else down

 

[P1]

I don't think the salary cap is an issue. He can still get $20m per season under the salary cap. That may be a pay cut, but he also has direct sponsorship deals with people like Tommy Hilfiger so he will still be very well paid. Plus I doubt it is about the money. He has a net worth of at least GBP 224 million according to the Sunday Times. A $20m salary reduction which is regulatory driven (not an indication of his performance) is not going to change his motivation.

 

[F1Brits_90]

just reminds me this salary cap. i was listening to F1 nation. the story goes that mercedes couldnt afford Hamilton wages in 2012. they went to petronas to ask if they could contribute & they said yes & the rest is history

 

[Il_leone]

You know this year there has been talk about sports people taking pay cuts. The government targeted PL footballers when really on the big clubs pay obscene wages.

In F1 all the teams can cite Covid reducing their income and therefore either people take it or lose their jobs.

Mercedes position last time they did this with Button they cited they could not afford his wages despite only asking for less than $10m and when he joined McLaren they offered $12m for 1 year. To top it all off they sacked a lot of factory workers citing global recession but ended up paying at least $20m a year to get Schumacher back.

So if talks break down someone at the Merc board will try and get Vettel in the team

 

[F1Brits_90]

but wouldnt Aston Martin launch legal action as they say they have a binding contract & would cost them huge amount