Lewis Hamilton offered to help rookie Kimi Antonelli in his contract negotiations with Mercedes, explaining that he 'knows how to work Toto Wolff'. The seven-time world champion spent 12 years with the Brackley-based squad, raking in hundreds of millions of pounds in the process. Antonelli's contract situation is much less certain than his predecessor, who is committed to a multi-year deal with Ferrari, having joined from Mercedes over the winter.

The Italian teenager has already scored his maiden podium in F1, but has also made some costly errors, which is to be expected from a rookie. Team principal Wolff believes in Antonelli's potential, and this was made clear by the decision to promote him into a Mercedes race seat after just half a season in Formula Two. However, with the potential to sign Max Verstappen, the Austrian has opted not to renew either of his incumbent drivers' contracts.

Antonelli was asked about his contract talks ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix. "That's the one-million dollar question," he started, before interviewer David Croft interrupted and asked if that was how much he was being paid by Mercedes.

Before the 18-year-old could resume his answer, Hamilton, who was sitting alongside him in the press conference, leaned in and said: “I can help you with the contract. I know how to work Toto, don’t worry!”

This prompted a laugh from Antonelli, who continued: "I've never been worried, to be honest. I know the situation, and I know what the team wants, especially looking at the future. So I think also Toto has been clear recently, and that's obviously good to see.

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"But I think the team is working well. The line-up is good. I mean me and George are working well together, and we are trying to work together as a team to find performance again. I think we're doing a pretty good job, and there's a really good atmosphere in the team." He closed out his response by adding: "I'm sure the team knows what's the best for especially next year, and I'm pretty confident that I'm in a good position."

Fortunately for Antonelli, Wolff looks to have made his decision. Ahead of the race in Spa-Francorchamps, he told ORF: "So they are all up to date. The direction of travel is definitely that we want to continue with George and Kimi.

"That is the absolute priority. But you can’t look past someone like Max and the plans he has for the future. We did that, but I don’t think there will be any big surprises.”