Reports are coming in that Lewis Hamilton, the phenom F1 driver that nearly won the drivers' championship last season, has resigned with team McLaren for a reported $138 million USD over the next five years. The deal keeps the now 23-year-old at McLaren through 2012, though he's said he would stay put for his entire career if they wanted him to (and paid him to). On average, Hamilton will earn $27 million per year through 2012, which is a big raise compared to the $700,000 base pay plus bonuses he earned last year, his rookie season. Looks like all that money used to pay F1 star Fernando Alonso last season will be going to Hamilton now, despite the fact he couldn't beat the Stig around the Top Gear test track. [Source: Motor Authority]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
FThorn @ Jan 7th 2008 9:41AM
I know absolutely nothing about Hamilton. But, he struck me as a real nice guy during his visit to Top Gear.
EJ25RUN @ Jan 7th 2008 10:49AM
I think thats the higgest ive ever heard. Especially for just your second year in motorsport.
John R @ Jan 7th 2008 9:41AM
Hey, Lewis, lemme hold $75k. You won't even miss it ;-).
BoZs13 @ Jan 7th 2008 10:34AM
Does someone want a GTR? :)
John R @ Jan 7th 2008 10:56AM
...shhh...you'll give me up...
Dev @ Jan 7th 2008 9:41AM
Wow! I just hope he doesn't end up like Jenson Button - lot of hope but no championships!
gabonezu @ Jan 7th 2008 9:42AM
yeap, he couldn't beat "da Stig"..despite cuting A LOT of corners and almost redrawing the race track layout in his own vision...the man cheated...
Andrew @ Jan 7th 2008 10:00AM
Haha, as the story goes, the track was slick and oily. I think he did a pretty good job none the less.
Franz @ Jan 7th 2008 11:44AM
The track was obviously wet, and said to be oily as well. The lap The Stig set was done in the dry. And the only corner he cut in my view was the last one, and that was because the car got sideways on him halfway through the turn. Even The Stig was impressed with the lap time. Why you gotta hate?
Tim @ Jan 7th 2008 9:54AM
He didn't "resign", he "re-sign"ed.
The way you have it, I had to re-read it (see how that works) several times before it made sense.
rndmnme @ Jan 7th 2008 12:03PM
I was like WTF, they gave him $138 million to go away?
tpp @ Jan 7th 2008 1:05PM
For real.
I'm not usually one to nitpick on typos and grammar, but come'on! That's a horrible title. Resigning is the opposite of re-signing.
Mr. Neff, can you PLEASE fix this article?
fizzandpop @ Jan 7th 2008 1:23PM
Yes, I just handed in my resignation letter this morning and was shocked to get back to my desk and see people putting all my crap in boxes. I tried to explain that I learnt how to spell by reading blogs and that I was infact re-signing my contract, but the HR woman was having none of it. So now I am out of work and can't afford the payments on my brand new Focus with the revolutionary SYNC by Microsoft that lets me get email while I'm supposed to be driving. No wait, they've turned off my company email, so the SYNC is useless.
BTW that Hamilton deal is the steal of the century. They pay third-rate second basemen more than that. Sorry, the BMW 135i is the steal of the century (RWD, BMW interior, 300+bhp, $35K[ish]). This is a close second.
geo.stewart @ Jan 7th 2008 9:56AM
I'm pretty sure he re-signed, not resigned....
Andrew @ Jan 7th 2008 10:01AM
I agree. I go through the trouble of proofreading my comments, why can't these writers proofread their articles?!
JIm @ Jan 7th 2008 10:22AM
This is a great move by McLaren. Assuming he continues, and there is no reason to assume otherwise, they got him cheap. Had Lewis signed for one or two years instead of five, that follow-on contract would have been worth twice as much.
In Lewis I see no reason why F1 can't have it's second sports billionaire. I see where Michael made $36M last year on endorsements, appearances, etc. Heck, during his driving career he was paid $2M/yr just to wear his ball cap.
Yeah, it's stupid high, but someone thinks it's worth it.
In2uition @ Jan 7th 2008 10:25AM
The title had me shocked at first cause I though he quit.
In2uition @ Jan 7th 2008 10:30AM
thought*
Gunnar @ Jan 7th 2008 10:32AM
Yeah, I had to read it several times to understand why he was getting paid to resign in 2012....
ajprice @ Jan 7th 2008 11:25AM
Re-signing is way better than resigning, however much you get paid!