Lewis Hamilton is in the final year of his contract with Mercedes as he looks to equal Michael Schumacher's record of seven F1 Drivers' championship titles in 2020. The Silver Arrows team are keen to retain the British racing driver and will hold talks during the upcoming campaign.
Recent reports suggested Mercedes and Hamilton had held talks and reached an impasse owing to the financial demands made by the six-time F1 world champion. He is said to have demanded a hefty fee close to $60 million per season, which the Brackley-based team are said to have rejected.
Mercedes F1 team principal Toto Wolff has made it clear that all the numbers mentioned in previous reports have been 'made up' as they are yet to sit down to hold talks about Hamilton's future with the team beyond 2020. The Briton, however, revealed that he has kept the 'channel open' with Wolff despite revealing that they have trust between them with regards to what they envision for the future.
"We haven't sat down and talked yet. It's crazy because there's all these talks in the media and everything," Hamilton told Sky Sports during an exclusive sit down with Toto Wolff and presenter Martin Brundle.
"I have a certain approach normally in the sense that I don't stress. I trust Toto and we have that trust between us. We have told each other basically what our goals are, and what our aims are, and our commitments and so I don't ever feel there's necessarily always a rush.
"But sometimes Toto's like 'is everything ok?' So we always keep the channel open and I'm sure in the near future we'll start to sit down. But I don't feel stressed," he added.
Wolff and Hamilton spoke about the 10-hour meeting they had at the British driver's home in Monaco before he signed his current contract in 2018 and the Mercedes team principal believes they will engage in something similar in the near future.
"I texted Lewis the other day and [said] I'm reading all these comments in the press about our negotiations and that Lewis is asking for so much money - we have never talked about it! It's all made up," Wolff said.
"Then I said maybe we should sit down one day and have the chat. But I think I know so well where he's going to go, you know where I am, it's about finding a day where we spend a few hours together. That's what we've done in the past."
