Hamilton and Mercedes have been locked in ꦇtalks all year to extend their partnership, which is due to expire at the end of the 2023 F1 season.

Despite assurances that a deal is a formality, 🧜Hamilton ꧑has still not put pen to paper on a new contract.

Ex-F1 driver Coulthard was quoted by the : “Mercedes will want a certain amount of time frꦜom Lewis for their partners. 

“Mercedes will have soౠld sponsorship on obtaining access to their💖 drivers.

“Some businesses will have signed up with the Silver Arrows because Lewis is there, rather than George Russell.&n𒊎bspꩵ;

“Perhaps Lewis might be wanting to do fewer day꧃s or have fewer commitmꦛents?

“What Lewis will be🌠 signing up for goes way beyond him driving at a grand prix. 

“It is about what rights he retains🅷 in terms of his image, and what rights he sells to the team. 

“Mercedes are buying more th๊an just Lewis’ driving services. They are buying his promotional image and hi♛s PR image.

“I don’t think there is any realistic chance that Lewis will leave Mercedes unless there is a major fallout. And🌜 I can’t see that happening.

“Who would the major fallout be with? Even if it was with Toto, Lewis’ relationship with Mercedes’ parent compa🉐ny Daimler is much longer than Toto’s emergence as team principal of Mercedes.”

Lawr☂ence Barretto at F1.com provided optimism that Hamilton and Mercedes’ alliance would conꦐtinue.

“Neither Mercedes boss Toto Wolff nor Hamilton appear stressed by the amount of time it is taking to get a new deal over the line. They’ve both said that the key term▨s – including money and length of the arrangement – have been agreed,” he reported.

“I🧸t’s just, as Wolff puts it, ‘trivia♎l things that need to be cleaned up’ in the contract before it all gets signed off.

“Hamilton has left it late to sign a new deal in the past. It wasn’t until the eve of pre-season in 2021 that he 🔯inked a one-year extension to race in that upcoming campaign. Just six months later, he penned a new two-year deal, taking him up to the end of 2023.

“The 38-year-old reckons he can race on for at least another five years, t🌺he Briton believing he still has what it takes to win a record eighth World Chꦚampionship.”