Toto Wolff wants Lewis Hamilton to extend his stay with Mercedes F1 team

Mercedes F1 team boss Toto Wolff says he sees no reason why Lewis Hamilton won’t stay with the team beyond 2021. The seven-time world champion signed a one-year extension to his contract ahead of the 2021 season. However, Wolff believes that Hamilton will stay as long as Mercedes remain competitive.

For his part, Hamilton confirmed to reporters in Portugal that he intends being in Formula 1 beyond this year.

“What we have already discussed privately has come out and I’m happy about that,” he said, according to Sky Deutschland.

“Lewis has been with us for a long time, and as long as we can give him a competitive car, I see no reason why we should not continue our cooperation.”

“There is no reason why not,” Wolff said when asked if Lewis Hamilton will be at Mercedes in 2022. “It’s the best place for him.”

“I think we are in a very good place,” he added. “Our relationship is growing stronger every year and it’s about time to really give it a little nudge and start to speak and this is what we are going to do soon.”

Who will partner Lewis Hamilton?

The issue of who will race alongside Hamilton in 2022, however, remains to be seen. It seems a straight fight between Valtteri Bottas and Mercedes junior driver George Russell.

Rusell has impressed at Williams over the last few seasons. But he was also involved in an incident with Bottas at Imola that saw them both crash out.

As of now, Wolff remains non-comittal on the issue.

“I hope one day to wake up in the morning and it becomes clear,” Wolff said.

“I think we need to get into the season, see how the races unfold and then it will be a judgement call. That’s the response I have for you at the moment.”

Hamilton is currently gunning for an unprecedented eighth world driver’s championship. He is currently joint with Michael Schumacher, with both having won the crown seven times.

However, the 2021 world title race is too close to call thus far. Hamilton won the season opener at Bahrain before Max Verstappen won at San Marino.

Hamilton currently leads the title race by a solitary point.