Lewis Hamilton may be forced to take a paycut at Mercedes, claims Martin Brundle

Lewis Hamilton's contract saga has been the talk of the F1 world since the season began and former F1 driver Martin Brundle recently gave his take on the topic.

Brundle believes that Mercedes could be looking to reduce Lewis Hamilton's salary. Although both parties have confirmed their interest in continuing the relationship, such a move could be the reason why there hasn't been a breakthrough in the ongoing negotiations.

Hamilton's current contract expires at the end of the 2023 season. Given the team's dip in performance since 2022, the seven-time world champion will be considering his options. Brundle believes that Hamilton will choose a faster car over a bigger paycheck.

The Mercedes driver has been vocal about the team's shortfalls, expressing his frustrations to the media.

Brundle said on the Sky Sports F1 podcast:

"You have to remember Lewis is in the middle of a negotiation as well. Now I'm 100 per cent certain Lewis would always follow the performance and not the money, but who’s going to turn down a big paycheck if you can get it as well?"

The 63-year-old added:

"There might be some pressure at Mercedes-Benz to reduce his pay, as it were. So there’s a bit of negotiation and a bit of game-play in this as well."

While rumors of Lewis Hamilton joining Ferrari hover over the F1 paddock, the 38-year-old will keep his options open if Mercedes doesn't deliver on its promises. According to Martin Brundle, Hamilton will turn down a big paycheck if another team offers a championship-winning car as the Brit looks for his eighth world championship.

Brundle compared Hamilton's situation to that of Charles Leclerc at Ferrari and Lando Norris at McLaren as he said:

"I don’t think Lewis is in any different position to say Lando or Charles at Ferrari of stamping their feet a little bit and saying: 'hang on, what are you doing about this? Tell me what we’re going in terms of updates, in terms of personnel, in terms of moving this game forward? Because it looks an awful lot like last year at the moment'."

Lewis Hamilton will be the central figure of this year's silly season if Mercedes fail to retain their star driver.

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Lewis Hamilton comments on Red Bull's pace

While Lewis Hamilton has driven some of the fastest F1 cars, he admitted that the RB19 is in its own league. The seven-time world champion said that the Red Bull cars had a bigger pace advantage compared to the cars he had driven.

Hamilton said in a post-race interview:

"I have definitely never seen a car so fast. When we were fast, we were not that fast. It is the fastest car I have seen, especially compared to the rest."

"I don’t know how, but he [Verstappen] came past me with some serious speed and I didn’t even bother to block him because there was a massive speed difference."

While competing with Red Bull is out of the picture, Hamilton is hoping that quick upgrades will help the team reduce the deficit to Aston Martin.