Lewis Hamilton to offer Toto Wolff calming tequila shot once new Mercedes deal done

Mercedes

Hamilton to offer Wolff calming tequila shot once new Mercedes deal done

Six-time F1 champion has yet to start talks on a contract

Ian Parkes

Saturday 29 August 2020 10:21

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Lewis Hamilton is to line up a shot of tequila for Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff once they have thrashed out terms over the six-time Formula 1 champion's new deal.

Hamilton is out of contract at the end of this season and has yet to sit down with Wolff to finalise what could potentially be the last agreement of his F1 career.

Previous contract negotiations have been amicable, with the duo sharing a pizza last time out in 2018 in Hamilton's apartment in Monaco as they discussed details for around nine hours.

On this occasion, the 35-year-old Briton feels Wolff might be in need of a drink to soothe him.

Explaining the minutiae of the discussions, Hamilton initially said: "I've been really fortunate. I've been negotiating my contract for the last two or three [years], and each time naturally learning a lot through the process.

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"I'm not one to want to always continue to do the same thing, so of course, I'm always looking at every detail, making sure every time I do my due diligence, that I understand that as we continue to grow together as a team that our values, our goals and ambitions continue to stay aligned.

"So that's what you generally go through. You just go through things to see how they could work better, for how you can both get more out of it, whether it's performance with sponsors, performance on track and how we work with the engineers, more time in the sim. I don't know, lots and lots of different things.

"And then once you get all those small details out of the way, then it comes to the big questions [referring to salary]."

Recognising that is always the most difficult part of the package to work on, Hamilton added: "Toto and I know each other, it's not our first rodeo together.

"I think it's an enjoyable experience, but we're definitely happy once it's done, and we can have a drink together.

"What I do know is I'll have some tequila aside to give him a shot afterwards to relax him - maybe I should give him tequila before to do that!"

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