World champion Lewis Hamilton is all set to become Formula One’s highest paid driver on a £25m-a-year deal.

The 30-year-old, already a mega-millionaire, brilliantly clinched his second title with 11 wins, three second and two third places last season, and is the priority target for Mercedes to re-sign on a mind-boggling extended deal.

He joined the legendary German grand prix team on a three-year contract in 2013 and, in the light of his tremendous recent success and his further towering potential as a multiple champion, they are desperate to keep their golden boy in their silver livery.

Team principal Toto Wolff tried in vain to talk him into a new tie-up halfway through the season but Hamilton, single-mindedly focused, refused to listen and insisted: “My priority is that I want to concentrate on winning the championship without any distractions. Let’s leave any contract talk or moves on my future until the season is over and done with.”

He is now grand prix racing’s hottest property, but Mercedes non-executive chairman Niki Lauda, the reigning champion’s unashamedly dedicated fan, is confident Hamilton will put pen to Mercedes-headed paper pretty soon.

And the shrewd and plain-spoken Austrian, himself a former world champion three times before being permanently scarred in a near-fatal crash that foreshortened his career, says: “We are determined to retain Lewis. We most definitely want him to stay with us.”

He added confidently: “This will happen. And I am not worried about any delays because both sides want to renew our arrangement. But we are in no rush.”

Hamilton, who offloaded his agent and now organises his own deals, hinted: “Not everyone gets to work with such a great team. Mercedes helped me to my dream with a superb and dominant car.”

In between a hectic series of worldwide duties as the new champion after a wait of six years, and as boyfriend to pop star Nicole Scherzinger, Hamilton — commuting between his Monaco home, London and Los Angeles in his £20m private jet — has been elusively cautious about his immediate future.

Maybe that was his ruse, leaving a question mark of remote doubt to squeeze as much of a fortune out of an anxious Mercedes hierarchy as he could with the cushion of at least a three-year deal with a go-ahead team looking to take domination even further than their 2014 triumph.

He reflects: “I drove my heart out in every race and, as far as I can recall, maximised every moment I had on the track.”

Then came the broadest of hints that he would re-sign for the clever and fiercely dedicated double title holders — constructors and drivers.

“It is my dream to be able to go into next season and be even stronger. And I have every faith in the Mercedes team that will, I believe, be even stronger next season.

“As for me, I am on a positive curve of real strength and I will be even stronger this season.”

If they are not the firmest of hints that he is intent on re-signing, as has his partner Nico Rosberg, for the finest, most expertly run outfit in F1 right now, I don’t know what is.

 

— The writer is a freelance journalist and motorsport expert