Contract talks a pain in the backside for Hamilton

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Date: 9th April 2015 at 7:59am
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Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes have failed to complete their contract negotiations this week.

Talks have been dragging on since last year and despite everything apparently being agreed in principal, we don’t look any closer to having everything signed and sealed ahead of the China Grand Prix.

Ahead of the Australian Grand Prix, both parties sounded positive that things would be wrapped up before the start of the season.

Then ahead of the Malaysia Grand Prix it was said that Hamilton and Mercedes had completed their contract negotiations over the 2014 Formula One World Champions new contract.

It was just all down to the lawyers to conclude after Hamilton had represented himself during the negotiations after parting company with his XIX Entertainment management team last year.

And yet we still wait, with Hamilton out-of-contract at the end of 2015 and continued rumours of numerous approaches from Ferrari according to reports in the media.

?Obviously at the last race I said it would be done within a week, this is my first time negotiating myself and you don?t know how many times I?ve had to read about 80 pages ? it is so much reading and it is all in lawyer jargon. So it has been a quite a pain in the backside to be honest.? Hamilton told Sky Sports.

But despite the talks being lengthy and protracted, it will be worth the wait for Hamilton once the i’s have been dotted and the t’s crossed.

The two-time Formula One World Champion’s new deal will be ‘more lucrative terms than the £20m-a-year he agreed’ when he left McLaren three-years ago, with the BBC reporting that he will earn a basic salary of £20.9million-a-year, but that includes various bonuses which depending on the number of race victories and potential future Formula One championships could take his earnings to in-excess of £27million.

The deal would see Hamilton on parity with former two-time Formula One World Champion Fernando Alonso at McLaren Honda and former four-time F1 title holder Sebastian Vettel at Ferrari.

Alonso is reportedly earning £27million-a-year at McLaren, whilst Vettel will earn £33.7million during his first season at Ferrari [his basic wage drops after the first season to £20.4million with potential bonuses boosting his earnings to around the £33.7million mark].