Team principal Toto Wolff has said that seven-times Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton’s new contract with Mercedes is yet to be signed but “emotionally” done.
The Mercedes team principal was speaking after the 38-year-old Briton lapped faster than anyone in final practice for Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix — a race Hamilton has won a record eight times.
“The status is we haven’t signed it [the contract] but emotionally we have done it,” Wolff told Sky Sports.
The contract has been a drawn-out talking point in the sport, as has been the case with most of the driver’s previous deals.
Wolff, who is also a co-owner of the Mercedes team, told reporters earlier this month that the discussion was no longer about financial aspects.
“This is not a money discussion at all. It is about the future, what is it that we want to do right and optimise?,” he said after the Austrian Grand Prix.
“We’re not talking anything any more about duration, money, all of that, it’s other topics.”
Hamilton suggested on Thursday that he expects the contract to be agreed soon, although he has not been involved in every detail of the talks between the parties.
“I’ve been removed from it from the beginning,” he said. “I’ve been wanting to focus on all the other things I have going on. The team has been working on it in the background. There’s no negotiation left. It’s just all the small bits.”