Whitmarsh: “Ready to agree a long-term contract with Hamilton”

With his contract expiring at the end of this year, Lewis Hamilton has been the subject of much speculation, but at McLaren there is no rush for the Englishman to stay: in fact, he is expected to be tied down for a long time.

With the signing of Mark Webber for Red Bull the drivers market seems blocked and it is possible that Hamilton will accept the offer from the Woking team. “I expect we will sign a long-term contract”, said McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh. “Lewis has been a member of this team for a long time, we've always focused on one season at a time. I think there has been more speculation, more concern, more interest in this situation in the media than perhaps within the team or in Lewis' mind."

With Hamilton saying he needs to win and McLaren now in fourth place in the Constructors' championship, Whitmarsh argued there was a need to think about the current season. “No, I don't think two bad races could damage Hamilton's chances of keeping on, because we will go into the next two races trying to win. We need to think about this now and if the negotiations continued beyond the summer break it would not worry me. What is certain is that for both parties it is something that should be determined, preferably by the end of the season. I don't think there's any need to do it in a short time frame.", concluded the McLaren boss.

Lorena Bianchi