Lewis Hamilton has finally signed a three year contract that will see him race for the German ‘silver arrows’ team till the end of 2018 season. The deal will also see him earn more than $40 million in terms of basic pay apart from the bonuses for winning races and championship points.

F1: Lewis Hamilton to stay with Mercedes for three years

Mercedes is currently one of the most valuable teams in Formula One, valued at over $560 million by Forbes. Mercedes controls most of the sponsorship deals for the team and its drivers like UBS and Blackberry. Hamilton’s personal sponsorship contracts include Bombardier and IWC. Hamilton’s new contract is expected to enable him secure more sponsorships and licensing deals with Mercedes and loosing constraints on the categories he can target.

The financial details of the new contract between Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes are kept confidential and have not been release publicly yet.

The media and press has been asking Lewis about the renewal of his contract with Mercedes since the beginning of this year while Lewis has been taking it slow and did not seem bothered or hurried about signing the deal. The previous contract between Lewis and Mercedes does not run out till the end of this year, so Lewis said he had a lot of time to decide and negotiate about his future.

Lewis if serves the next three years at Mercedes would complete 20 years with the Mercedes brand. It was back in 1988 that he was backed by the team when he was still racing in the junior divisions. Lewis said, “I have enjoyed my time at Mercedes so much it was 100% in my mind that this is where I wanted to be, provided we could come to an agreement”.

The Mercedes board members and team bosses played a pivotal role in securing Lewis his first break in Formula One with McLaren in 2007. Lewis still maintains a close and healthy relationship with team principal, Toto Wolff and the non-executive chairman and the legendary driver, Nikki Lauda. “I feel that Mercedes have built a group of people who create an incredibly solid fortress which does not have a weak brick”, said Lewis.

The bond Lewis shares with the top bosses of the team made it easy for him to keep the channel of negotiation for a long duration and interesting. Lewis said, “It’s hard to talk about money with anyone let alone someone with whom you have a really good relationship in lots of ways as well”.

Talking about the next race at Monaco Grand Prix 2015, he said it is one of the places that every driver wants to win. He has won only once before, in 2008. Nico Rosberg has been winning the race for the last two consecutive seasons. This year’s win will propel him into the leagues of Ayrton Senna and Alan Prost. Even Michael Schumacher has won 5 times at Monte Carlo but never thrice in a row. Hamilton is keen to beat his team mate and said he had full confidence on his abilities.

“Will I have a perfect weekend here? I don’t know, but I am going to give it everything I have got over these next four days”, Lewis said, determined about the weekend.

Tags: F1, Formula One, Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, Mercedes, Monaco GP, Monaco Grand Prix, Motorsport, Motorsports