Lewis Hamilton urged the media to stop “making shit up” after reports emerged that he was demanding a £40m salary from Mercedes in negotiations over a new contract.
The six-time world champion responded to a story that first appeared in the Daily Mail, which claimed Mercedes wanted him to take a pay cut as a result of the pandemic.
However, Hamilton refuted the claims via his Instagram account and said that talks with Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff over a new deal had not yet started.
“So the media keep writing about contract and me making demands but I haven’t even spoken with Toto about it yet,” he wrote.
“No demands, the conversation hasn’t even begun. So please stop making shit up.”
Hamilton is out of contract with Mercedes at the end of the 2020 season, but when asked about the situation on Thursday, Wolff appeared relaxed.
“I think simply based on the fact that we haven’t seen each other a lot, we have been keeping the discussion up, we are in a position of trust with both of the drivers,” Wolff said.
“You could say that in Formula 1 it doesn’t mean a lot – but it does in our team. I guess that we will do the next steps soon but I don’t want to commit to any timing because I don’t want to answer questions every single race weekend about why the contracts are not done. There is no urgency in the matter. All of us want to do it and when the time is right, we will announce it.”