McLaren Principal Martin Whitmarsh insists Lewis Hamilton contract not an issue – Formula 1
McLaren Principal Martin Whitmarsh has insisted that he not worried about McLaren’s dealing behind the scene with their driver Lewis Hamilton over his future contract.
Whitmarsh said that he is not worried that the relations between Hamilton and McLaren will turn sour and that they will be able to manage the situation amicably.
Hamilton’s contract ends with the team at the end of the year. There has been every indication that Hamilton will be renewing his contract with the team but recent developments have shown that the Brit might have to endure a pay cut for the renewed contract
starting from the year 2013.
Since then there have various speculations of linking Hamilton with other teams but Whitmarsh has said that there should be no problems in signing up with Hamilton again.
“We’d rather focus on making the car quicker, make sure we don’t make any mistakes, operate well, try to win races and ultimately go for a championship,” he told the Mirror when asked about the crucial talks with Hamilton.
“I don’t think things are going to become toxic,” he added. “I’ve known Lewis a long time. We have a very good understanding and trust of one another. I hope and believe that goes both ways. I don’t see doing the deal as a big issue. It hasn’t had the intensity
of ‘we must get this fixed’ because we are pretty comfortable with each other at the moment.”
Hamilton on the other hands said that he is willing to fight for minor details such as keeping the trophies instead of letting them sit at the Woking headquarters of McLaren.
Whitmarsh however said that something as minor as letting go of the tradition to keep the trophies at the McLaren headquarters is not a big enough issue to sour the deal with Hamilton.
“I suspect in the coming weeks we will sit down and find a decent outcome,” said Whitmarsh. “Some of those peripheral issues are resolvable.”
It will be interesting to see if the situation building up will have any impact on the outcome of the Silverstone Grand Prix scheduled for July 8th 2012 or not.
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