Daimler, the parent company of Mercedes and a shareholder of the Silver Arrows, reportedly blocked a new $50 million per year deal that Lewis Hamilton was set to sign during the 2020 F1 season.
“In November, when Formula 1 went to Turkey, a contract was ready that meets Hamilton’s requirements: a four-year contract with a salary of 50 million a year. Daimler, however, put a stop to that,” Italy’s Corriere Dello Sport has reported.
Daimler currently owns just a third of the Mercedes F1 Team following restructuring last month which resulted in Ineos purchasing a third of the team and Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff increasing his shareholding to 33.33 percent.
Hamilton and Wolff have repeatedly insisted that the only reason a new deal hasn’t been inked is because they have had other priorities to manage.
“If you refer to why haven’t we got a signed contract? The reason is simple. We always prioritised getting this Championship done, and not being distracted by sometimes difficult discussions, as is the nature of negotiation. But then COVID struck,” Wolff said last month.
“So it has delayed us a little bit, but we are not worried in eventually getting it done,” the Austrian added, saying he expects a new contract to be inked “sooner or later.”
Specifically, Wolff said it could take until just before pre-season testing in March for a contract extension to be agreed.
