23/07/2023
NEWS STORY
Toto Wolff says that a new contract with Lewis Hamilton, though as yet unsigned, is "emotionally done".
The Austrian was speaking after the seven-time world champion claimed pole for the Hungarian Grand Prix, the 104th pole of his F1 career and his first since Jeddah 2021.
With his current contract coming to an end at the close of the season, both the Briton and Mercedes have been playing things down, at least in public, and while media speculation of a move to a rival team was always wide of the mark it was always clear that the seven-time champ wanted to see an improvement.
Pole, following his podium finishes in Spain, Canada and Britain may have helped.
Speaking on Thursday, Hamilton once again played down the urgency of the situation.
"I've been removed from it from the beginning," he told reporters. "I've been wanting to focus on all the other things I have going on.
"The team has been working on it in the background. There's no negotiation left. It's just all the small bits."
Asked about the situation in the moments after Hamilton claimed pole, Toto Wolff told Sky Sports: "The status is we haven't signed it, but emotionally we have done it."
Speaking earlier this month, Wolff insisted that the lack of an 'announce' was not down to money.
"This is not a money discussion at all," he said. "It is about the future, what is it that we want to do right and optimise?
"We're not talking anything anymore about duration, money, all of that, it's other topics."
Check out our Sunday gallery from the Hungaroring here.