“They’ll Want to Pay him the Minimum” – Former F1 Driver on the Lewis Hamilton Contract Scenario

After last week’s game of musical chairs, many questions revolve around Sebastian Vettel and his 2021 future. With his exit from Ferrari, several doors are closing, with McLaren roping in Daniel Ricciardo. Although there is a Renault seat available, he may not bite and search for better options. However, former McLaren driver David Coulthard believes that Vettel’s availability may affect other driver negotiations, like Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton.

For the moment, Hamilton has yet to sign a contract for next season and Mercedes are eager to retain him. Financially, there is not much that they can offer and he may consider venturing into that territory.

Although the 6-time world champion is the best paid driver on the grid, he may seek a larger paycheck. Especially in the wake of the current crisis affecting every country’s finances. Eventually, there may be a stage where Mercedes cannot offer him any more, and Vettel the free agent is ripe is for the picking, according to Coulthard.

How will the Mercedes-Lewis Hamilton saga play out?

As much as they love Lewis, Mercedes and Toto [Wolff], they’re business people, they’re not charities,” Coulthard told the official Formula1 website. “It’s not, ‘Oh Lewis, we love you so much, here’s a blank cheque, write the number in and we’ll work out how we manage to pay you that.’ They’ll want to pay him the minimum they can to allow more money to be invested in the business, and [Hamilton will] of course want the maximum.”

Admittedly, a Vettel swoop for Mercedes seems quite farfetched. Coulthard thinks that the German has changed his demands due to some events at Ferrari. He clearly wants to be in a competitive car in the coming years and is determined to prove his competitiveness. Earlier the Scotsman suggested that he mayo offer his services to Mercedes for free. Ayrton Senna did the same thing a long time ago when Williams had a dominant car.