Mercedes Set To Announce New Hamilton Deal, Does Not Include 'Verstappen Clause' - Report

F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton has reportedly signed a new deal worth $48 million with Mercedes ahead of the upcoming 2021 season. But the new contract does not include the 'Verstappen clause.'

Hamilton has signed a year’s contract with an option of extending it for the second year but the Brit racer’s salary will remain the same, F1-insider.com was informed by unnamed sources. However, International Business Times could not verify it independently.

While the driver has not been offered a raise, he has been permitted to two advertising spaces on his helmet and himself.

It has been reported by a few media outlets that the 36-year-old's new contract may have a new clause that could allow him to choose his future teammates and according to the F1-insider report, the clause may involve Red Bull’s Max Verstappen’s move to Mercedes in the near future because it is a well known fact that the young Dutch driver is on Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff’s future wish list.

However, F1 news website Motorsports.com, which has a great record in providing inside information from various F1 teams, has reported otherwise, saying Hamilton will have "no power with Mercedes to demand a comfortable team-mate" because that clause "does not exist."

Mercedes driver has already been decided and "his name is George Russell and not Max Verstappen," the motorsport further added in the report.

Ever since Hamilton was crowned the world champion at the end of 2020 for a record seventh time, his contract talks have been the center of attraction in the motorsports fraternity. Mercedes are planning to break the news by next week and thereby end all the speculations about Hamilton’s future.

It is understood that Hamilton’s contract talks have taken so much time because of the conflict between Hamilton and Mercedes over the freedom the driver shall have over marketing himself on the individual level while driving for Mercedes. Along with this, the amount of money Hamilton demanded had also been a hurdle at a point where the team bosses had begun to look at ideal replacements.

The F1 2021 campaign is set to go underway in Bahrain with the main race scheduled to take place at the Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir on March 28.