Toto Wolff has set an eleventh-hour deadline for the conclusion of contract negotiations with Lewis Hamilton. Dr Helmut Marko is regarding the obviously troubled negotiations as a potential boost for Red Bull, telling RTL that he hopes the “unrest works in our favour”. “The lawyers are hard at work,” Mercedes boss Wolff told ORF’s Sport am Sonntag program. As for the Hamilton talks, Wolff is setting a worryingly late deadline for their conclusion. “We have to sign something at some point before Bahrain at the latest,” he said. Wolff insists that he is not making any serious threats in the negotiations, amid rumours George Russell is the obvious favourite to step in.

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