LEWIS Hamilton is understood to have yesterday become one of Britain's highest-paid sportsmen after signing a new multi-million pound contract with McLaren.
The five-year deal is believed to be worth £10 million per year, or £200,000 per week – a pay packet that eclipses the country's Premier League stars.
Only David Beckham, whose five-year contract with LA Galaxy was rumoured to total £128million,
can claim to earn more than Hamilton.
Although McLaren have not released any financial details, their willingness to adequately reward Hamilton following a phenomenal debut year has never been in question.
The 23-year-old came within a point of winning the world title, only to lose out in the final grand prix of the campaign in Brazil. But he had already won four races and broken every rookie record in the Formula 1 history books, ensuring it would be only a matter of when, and not if, McLaren would upgrade his deal.
With the contract not due to expire until 2012, should Hamilton remain with the team up until that time, it means his partnership with McLaren will stretch to 15 years.
Hamilton was initially signed up a decade ago at the age of 13 as he was supported through various karting and junior formulae en route to his breakthrough into Formula 1.
Such is his affinity with McLaren, he freely concedes he "could easily drive for this team for the whole of my Formula 1 career". He added: "I am with the right team to compete for race wins and both the drivers' and constructors' world championships in the future.
"We will have a lot of challenges ahead, but I am 100 per cent positive I am with the people to take them on."
McLaren F1 CEO Martin Whitmarsh has revealed negotiations on the new deal only started with Hamilton's manager, father Anthony, after the launch of the 2008 car 12 days ago in Stuttgart. They were swiftly concluded, to the delight of team boss Ron Dennis who hailed Hamilton as "an exceptional human being".
The full article contains 349 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
