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Kitzbühel (AP) - Toto Wolff takes the ongoing negotiations with Formula 1 record world champion Lewis Hamilton with humor.
"I already threatened him with the fact that I would be the next in line to sit down," joked the Mercedes team boss and team co-owner on the ORF program “Sport am Sonntag” in Kitzbühel about a cockpit deployment.
Around two months before the start of the season, Hamilton has still not signed a new contract with the Silver Arrows.
The talks would continue, it was about details, said Wolff.
"The lawyers are hard at work."
Wolff did not explain exactly why both sides have not yet finalized a new working paper for the seven-time world champion.
"But before Bahrain at the latest we have to sign something at some point," said the 49-year-old Viennese.
After the postponement of the Australian Grand Prix, which should have taken place in mid-March, the new season starts on March 28th in Bahrain.
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Hamilton (36) can win his eighth world title this year.
It would overtake Michael Schumacher.
Last season, Hamilton set the 52-year-old's record.
Hamilton celebrated six of his seven World Cup triumphs in a Mercedes, and when he won his first World Cup in 2008, his McLaren was powered by at least one Mercedes engine.
Wolff emphasized that his compatriot George Russell (22), who stood in for Hamilton's corona infection in Bahrain at the beginning of December, played no role in the negotiations with Hamilton.
In their long-term partnership, it is “not about making any threatening gestures”.
You would have a "really solid basis in our relationship, we have celebrated great successes with each other and we want to continue to do so in the future," said Wolff: "We will pull out the fountain pen one day."
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