Hamilton ready to ‘get in the ring’ over new F1 contract

Lewis Hamilton is anticipating a “stressful moment” of contract talks with Mercedes as he looks to “get in the ring” and negotiate his Formula 1 future.

The newly-crowned six-time world champion’s current deal expires at the end of 2020, but Hamilton has recently stressed his desire to extend his spell into the next era of regulations to become a “pioneer” of F1.

Hamilton is expected to sign a new contract with Mercedes, though he revealed he still finds contract negotiations a daunting prospect. 

“I’ve obviously considered the next couple of years,” Hamilton said when he addressed the media ahead of this weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix.

“Naturally I know I want to continue racing, that I love what I’m doing. I see no reason for me to stop anytime soon. But in terms of the future future, I’ve not planned absolutely everything.

“I only just did this contract and I’ve already got to start potentially talking about the next one, which is frustrating because it’s another stressful moment where you get into the room, get into the ring, and have a friendly yet intense conversation about terms and all this kind of thing.

“But I’m used to it now and I like to think I’m a relatively good negotiator.”

Hamilton explained how the potential for conflict of interests between both parties is something that weighs on his mind on the eve of starting new talks.

“I think it’s confrontation, isn’t it?,” Hamilton replied when asked what he has to be stressed about.

“You’re both wanting to see what more you can get out of it, how you can do things better, there are things that you have to change and it has taken years to change some of the formalities that we go through within this team.

“The team has been amazing,” he added. “Bradley [Lord, head of communications] and his team working around to help lighten the load, make it more impactful. The way I work with the engineers, lots of different things.

"It won’t be really stressful to be honest. But it’s daunting when you think of it coming up because also you’re committing to a period of time in your life. Sometimes it’s hard to imagine that far ahead.

“But of course it’s nice to be wanted, so hopefully soon we’ll get it sorted.”

Additional reporting by Julianne Cerasoli.