Lewis's response to that will be - give me a competitive car and I'll give you another title.chrisc90 wrote: ↑09 Aug 2023, 19:02Likely the sticking point. The article someone posted before in the Merc thread? said that Toto and Lewis use that 'Penny' as they dont like talking money between friends.Just_a_fan wrote: ↑09 Aug 2023, 18:53He was on base salary + result bonus before, I believe he wanted to go to "all in the salary" as there hasn't been much result bonus available. That's going to be talking point for lots of reasons.chrisc90 wrote: ↑09 Aug 2023, 18:47
Lewis turned round and said the McLaren looks like a Red Bull. Yet to see any resemblance there.
I mean if its all because Merc haven't give him a car that isn't capable of putting it on the top step of the podium then it seems a bit of a 'bitter' way to try and negotiate a contract. Maybe there's a BIG win/podium bonus attached to his contract and it hasn't been paying. I cant see the likes of Verstappen and Lewis getting 40million a year if they always finishing 4th or 5th each season. I dare bet that 40million is made up of win bonuses etc. Say a base contract of 20million a year, and the remaining 20million is split between 20-odd races each season.
So it would seem, in my opinion, that Mercedes aren't going to be paying top dollar for a driver that's not putting it on the top step of the podium any more. Toto/Merc might have said, Look Lewis, we aren't getting the wins, as the cars not properly competitive with Red Bull, so we dont think your worth the £40million/year to finish P4-6 with the occasional podium thrown in the mix. George is on £8m/year and Lewis near enough 5x that amount. Its a lot to spend on a driver getting an occasional podium over the last 2 seasons. Of course there's the fan base and budget the marketing brings aswell from Lewis.
Tough one - clearly Lewis isn't happy with the offer Mercedes have come back with - which is going to be based marginally on the results the team are having. Lewis thinks i'm worth this much, Mercedes say X amount less. Makes perfect sense if he wanted to move away from base + results style to a full salary. As irrespective of whether he come first or 10th all season, he would get the same money being on a 'all in' contract.
Thing is....who would want to pay £40million/year for Lewis. That's the big question. Only the likes of Ferrari - but I cant see them spending twice what they paying Charles for Lewis coming to the end of his career.
As for Ferrari, if they thought they could secure a title with Lewis, they'd pay him the money.