F1, Wolff: 'Hamilton renewal? Lawyers are at work '

Toto Wolff tested positive for Covid in early January, but without symptoms and is now cured.

The Mercedes team principal revealed this in an interview with the Austrian broadcaster ORF.

It was precisely the quarantine spent in Kitzbühel, where he was on vacation, that slowed down the negotiations for the renewal of the contract with Lewis Hamilton, he explained, saying, however, that he is confident of concluding with the seven-time world champion before the start of the tests. pre-season in Bahrain in March, to still have him behind the wheel in the 2021 Formula 1 World Championship.

    "The lawyers are working hard," Wolff said. "We don't make their life easy, of course, by continuing to argue about Zoom. Lewis is now in America and I'm here, but at some point we'll come to an agreement. The negotiations are like this, You start from different angles, it's quite normal. The basis of our professional bond is solid, we have won a lot together and we want to keep doing it. But sometimes you have to discuss things in detail, it took and it takes some time " .

    Wolff then assured that George Russell's good performance when he replaced Hamilton, after the Brit contracted Covid-19 before the penultimate race of the season, has no bearing on the talks for 2021: "We never played the card. Russell. He did incredibly well and will one day be in a top machine, but our long-standing partnership doesn't involve intimidation. "