Rumor: Hamilton/Mercedes contract talks already on hold

A report in Italy is claiming that Lewis Hamilton’s contract negotiations with Mercedes have come to a halt following on from a difficult weekend at the Monaco Grand Prix.

Hamilton said in a post-race interview that he did all he could, but it just wasn’t enough, whilst the team also came in for criticism from the seven-time world champion after their call to pit him early in a bid to gain places back-fired.

And, according to the Italian version of Motorsport.com, such cross-words and the tough weekend as a whole have seen contract negotiations for an extension past this year put on hold for the time being.

They write that there are a few ‘cracks’ in the relationship at the moment and that any near-future agreement over a new deal is now unlikely.

They also say that members of the team didn’t take too kindly to Hamilton’s criticism of the car set-up and so, evidently, there’s a bit of patching up to do.