Marko: Mercedes unwilling to pay Hamilton $66m
Lewis Hamilton may be pricing himself out of the market in Formula 1, according to Red Bull's Dr Helmut Marko.
Reports suggest the six-time world champion has turned down Mercedes' offer of a new two-year deal for 2021 and 2022 amounting to as much as $50m per season.
But Hamilton is reportedly pressing for $66 million a year.
Marko, a top official at Red Bull who has just re-signed Max Verstappen through 2023, thinks the numbers being reported are probably right.
"Lewis is a six-time world champion and very important for Mercedes in both sporting and marketing terms," he told Auto Bild.
"I think he is aware of his value which is where he comes up with such numbers.
"But I believe that no team, not even Mercedes, will be willing to spend such sums on a driver. Maybe Ferrari," Marko added.
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Mercedes should concede. He is worth what he wants. He has only a couple of years to make Mercedes what it has become. They let Nico go, so do they think Valtteri is going to rule the roost when Lewis leaves? They don't even believe in Valterie to lead the team.
He'll get it, or Merc will lose much more than 66 million.
I think Hamilton should get the 66m he's so good at what he does
Hamilton has got very greedy now.
Hamilton is a very good driver who can demand a high salary,, Mercedes could pay max and charles 33m each and either of them can quite easily beat hamilton!
66m is a whole lot of money.
Anyone that thinks he deserves 66m is on drugs
Max and Charles have a way to.go.to get to Hamiltons standard,is they could easily beat Hamilton they would.
He will beat all records then move to Ferrari,or take the 66 which he is worth
The next 2 years are Hamiltons swan song and he will try to get as much as possible before he calls it a day. Fair play to him his record says it all the most successful driver of modern time and worth every penny he can get.
Compared to some premier football players Lewis 66m is a bargain
Pay him there will never be another driver like lewis
if i was toto i would make auction for 2 sits at mercedes
of cours only people with f1 licence can participate and 2 persons with highest offer wins
im sure 99% of drivers with f1 licence would participate and try to find sponsors for auction
mercedes could make money that way every year, as next year there would probably be a different winner as last one has spent all his money on previous year xD
im prity sure that Vettel or Alonso would offer 90% of all their money to drive that car and same goes for other drivers...
and there should be clause that if mercedes dont win constructors drivers dont pay for that year :D
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