Formula 1: ‘Lewis to Renault confirmed’, say Mercedes

Mercedes joked that Lewis Hamilton is on his way to Renault for the 2021 Formula 1 season, as their six-time world champion remains not under contract.

The person behind the screen when it comes to the Mercedes Formula 1 Twitter account certainly has quite a few jokes to offer.

Six-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, who recently tied Michael Schumacher’s all-time wins record with his 91st career victory, is on pace to winning a record-tying seventh world title this season.

But he still doesn’t have a contract to compete for the Silver Arrows next year.

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This is despite the fact that a potential extension for the 35-year-old Briton was discussed even before the 2020 season was initially scheduled to begin back in March.

Meanwhile, teammate Valtteri Bottas, who has won just nine races compared to Hamilton’s 38 since the pair became teammates in 2017, has already signed an extension to return next year. Yet in 2018, when both drivers signed extensions, they did so in mid-July within one day of each other.

Although Hamilton has stated that he believes a deal will get done and it is more so a matter of when and not if, the fact that Bottas signed an extension more than two and a half months ago and Hamilton is still a pending free agent has sparked rumors that Hamilton could potentially be retiring or switching teams.

That led to Mercedes posting on Twitter that Hamilton has been confirmed at Renault, in a response to a fan’s comment about him “wearing a lot of yellow lately”.

While clearly a joke regardless, it is also worth pointing out that Renault already have both of their drivers picked out for 2021 anyway.

With Daniel Ricciardo set to move to McLaren to replace Carlos Sainz Jr., who is set to move to replace the Aston Martin-bound Sebastian Vettel at Ferrari, the team have made the decision to sign two-time world champion Fernando Alonso out of retirement to pair with Esteban Ocon, who signed a two-year deal last year.

Alonso, who won his two titles driving for Renault in 2005 and 2006, “retired” after the 2018 season. His 32 career victories rank sixth all-time. He competed for Renault from 2003 through 2006 and then again in 2008 and 2009.