Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes F1 team agree contract talks pact

Although both parties are eager to stay together beyond the current deal that runs out after 2015, there are concerns that discussions to sort things out could prove a distraction during what is becoming an increasingly intense title fight.

As part of the plan to wait to sort out a new contract, it has emerged that Hamilton and Mercedes have both agreed to an exclusivity deal, whereby they will not speak to anyone else until they know what they are doing together.

Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff insisted that although Nico Rosberg had recently extended his deal with the team, there was no rush to finalise things with Hamilton because he was still guaranteed to be at the team until at least the end of 2015.

"At this stage things are very intense and you have to stay concentrated on the season," explained Wolff when asked about the progress of Hamilton contract talks.

"But one thing is for sure: we are not going to talk to anybody else before having a very clear situation about how we can continue to work with Lewis.

"This is what we said to each other - that we have no interest of having any other conversation with any other driver, and we are not having any, and Lewis is not having any discussion with any other team.

"That is why we trust each other.

"At the moment we need to be concentrated on the championship and not get involved in intense [contract] discussions, because it is something that is one and a half years away from us."