Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/488485
21 Sport maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 1 APRIL 2015 FORMULA 1 MOTOGP Lewis Hamilton agrees new mega deal with Mercedes Pedrosa reveals arm injury, considering future Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton is ready to sign a new contract that, according to media reports, could net him more than $40 million a year "IT should be done this week. There's no reason why it shouldn't be," the Mercedes driver told Brit- ish reporters after finishing second in Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix. "Honestly, it's 99.6 percent done. There's no negotiating left. It's just legal stuff." The BBC reported on Tuesday that the 30-year-old Briton, who has conducted his own negotiations with Mercedes, would earn about the same basic salary as in his first contract with the team he joined in 2013. However other sources indicated the terms would be more lucrative, to reflect his success and status. With bonuses, depending on the number of race wins and retaining the championship, the BBC calcu- lated the total amount would be "well over $40 million" -- working out at more than $4,500 an hour or $75 a minute. Hamilton, who won the first of his two titles with McLaren in 2008, is one of the three highest paid drivers in the sport with Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel and McLaren's Fernando Alonso reckoned to earn at least what the Briton does. He is out of contract at the end of this season and the saga of his ne- gotiations has kept the media busy since last year, when the talks were put on hold for him to concentrate on the title battle. Reports since then have regularly indicated that he was set to sign, Hamilton telling Sky Sports last week that he hoped to do so before the Malaysian Grand Prix, which came and went without an an- nouncement. The delays have triggered specu- lation that Hamilton could be con- sidering a shock move to Ferrari as a replacement for Kimi Raikkonen alongside four times champion Vet- tel but the driver has laughed off that idea. "No, don't be silly," he said when asked about it. Lewis Hamilton Dani Pedrosa DANI Pedrosa finished sixth in the first grand prix of the new season in Qatar on Sunday. However, Pedrosa, who had an operation on the same injury after last season`s Spanish Grand Prix, said he could no longer continue riding until he found a cure for the problem. "It is evident that I cannot continue riding in this way because I cannot give my best. I have suffered this situation for a while and it is very difficult to continue competing like this," he said. "The team know the situation and it has reached the point where I have to look for a so- lution to the problem once more. I don`t have the answers right now to how it will go, but I need to try and find the way to fix it." Pedrosa added that he had sought the opin- ions of numerous doctors in the off-season in an attempt to ease the pain he suffered dur- ing last season when he finished fourth in the world championship. "Since last year I have had a lot of problems in my right forearm and have suffered a lot in silence. "I have tried everything to fix it. As you know last year I had an operation in the middle of the season which didn`t help men at all. "The situation last season was very difficult. I had a lot of problems in every race. "At the end of the year I travelled around the world meeting different doctors to find a so- lution for my arm. Almost none of them rec- ommended an operation, so I followed their advice trying to improve the arm with some techniques other than an operation." Despite never winning the world champion- ship, Pedrosa has had a very successful Mo- toGP career, winning 26 races and finishing runner-up in the championship race three times. The second grand prix of the campaign takes place in Austin, Texas on April 12.