“Lewis has the ability to go to”- Former F1 driver feels Toto Wolff is powerless in contract talks

“Lewis has the ability to go to”- Former F1 driver and Lewis Hamilton’s compatriot suggests that Toto Wolff might not have absolute discretion.

There is no confirmation about Lewis Hamilton’s future with Mercedes, but a few sources reveal that the Briton is reaching near to sign the contract.

On the other hand, Toto Wolff has also signalled that some trivial reasons are delaying the process. But, who can deny the deeper troubles, which might be causing the actual delay.

David Coulthard, who earlier explained that what possibly be delaying the contract extension confirmation has now claimed that maybe Hamilton has a key bargaining trick which keeps Wolff, not in full authority to handle the contract talks.

“It is usually the team principal who is handling the negotiations and is empowered,” Coulthard told Express Sport. “Lewis and Toto will have that conversation together and if Toto is not empowered to give Lewis what he wants then Lewis has the ability to go to Ola Kallenius at Daimler and say, ‘Ola, I want to do this deal, you are also the shareholders, can you make this happen?’” Coulthard explained.

In the recent redistribution of Mercedes F1 team’s stakes, Wolff was awarded one-third of the team’s shares and a three-year contract extension as the team principal. The rest of the remaining shares were equally distributed between Daimler and Ineos.

What will happen then?

If Hamilton goes to Kallenius, then Mercedes may remain with two options, and they can only opt for either street, which will determine Hamilton’s future with the team.

“Mercedes have the ability to add should they choose. They also have the ability to say to Toto ‘we are not investing any more money in the drivers than we did last year. ”

If Lewis wants more money, the answer from our side is no – you have to go and find it from somewhere else’.” said Coulthard.

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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