Mercedes: Hamilton remains the priority after 2015

While uncertainty looms around a few drivers for the upcoming season – see our transfer table, Mercedes holds a contract with its two current drivers for 2015, Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton.

The German driver signed a multi-year contract with Mercedes earlier this year. However, on the British side, only one year is currently signed. Toto Wolff, the team’s executive director, has announced that Lewis Hamilton remains the priority for Mercedes’ future: « We have a contract with both our drivers for 2015. We want to continue with this duo because these two drivers are an integral part of the team’s success. They both know each other very well and they respect each other. Bringing someone else into the fight could be detrimental to the team. Therefore, our priority is to continue with Lewis and Nico beyond 2015. »

This could dampen Fernando Alonso’s ambitions of joining the Mercedes team in 2016, as some rumors had suggested. In all likelihood, negotiations for a contract extension between the British driver and his team will take place once the championship is over: “We agreed with Lewis that we would remain focused on the championship by guaranteeing him the same chances we offer Nico,” confirmed Wolff. “We do not want to engage in commercial, financial, or legal discussions before Abu Dhabi.”

The Austrian leader also refutes rumors that Bernie Ecclestone or Dieter Zetsche, the head of Mercedes, are pressuring him to hire Fernando Alonso: « There is no type of pressure. I think one of the reasons this team has progressed so much is that we have a maternal link with Mercedes-Benz that helps us greatly. They let us conduct our own business and make our own decisions, which are right for this small entity, united with Mercedes. We can ask for their opinion when we deem it important, and Dieter Zetsche is also part of the decision-makers. But there is no pressure. »