McLaren legend questions Lewis Hamilton's motivation as Mercedes contract extension seems inevitable

Former McLaren driver and two-time world champion Mika Hakkinen feels Lewis Hamilton is no longer 100 percent focused on racing in F1 and has other interests that could affect his contract with Mercedes.

Although Hamilton has had other interests for quite some time now, his primary goal has been to race. However, Hakkinen feels that is no longer the case.

Speaking to Unibet, Mika Hakkinen initially explained why Lewis Hamilton would not be joining Ferrari, even though the Italian team offered him more money.

He also claimed that the Briton's mind has slightly drifted away from racing now.

“Lewis Hamilton joining Ferrari would be a surprise. Does money motivate drivers? I know Lewis’ head is not 100% in racing anymore. It’s completely normal. But does money motivate? Of course, it does, but there are many risks involved. I think it’s highly unlikely he will join Ferrari,” Mika Hakkinen said.

Mika Hakkinen further explained how a person's priorities can change as they get older. Lewis Hamilton is already feeling the competition from other young and strong drivers like Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, and his own teammate, George Russell.

“I always say that when people get older, the order of your thoughts change. Your priorities in life change. Formula 1 just won’t be the most important thing anymore. It wouldn’t surprise me when the competition gets tougher and young drivers emerge, what George Russell is doing with Lewis at the moment, result-wise, it’s not an easy situation," Hakkinen continued.

"Does Lewis have enough energy to wake up every morning, give his everything and bring results so that he can beat his team-mate? Is that the right future for him?” he added.

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Mercedes could announce Lewis Hamilton's new contract within a few days, says Toto Wolff

Recently, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff revealed that Lewis Hamilton's contract extension announcement could be made within days.

Both recently attended Forbes Iconcast Summit where Wolff spoke to CNBC about the seven-time world champion's contract.

He explained how both are weirded out whenever they have to talk about money and contracts, simply because they are such close friends.

"Well, we are still talking. You know, we get this question basically every race weekend. We have such a good relationship that we dread the moment we need to talk about money. So it's going to happen soon," Toto Wolff said.

"Soon... I think we are talking more days than weeks. But if I commit to a date now then everyone is going to ask in Montreal on the weekend, 'So what happened to the days'. We are trying hard but at least I get to see him today and maybe we can talk about it," he added.

From these statements, it's safe to assume that Mercedes is about to complete the negotiations with Lewis Hamilton, who will sign his long-awaited new contract.