Hamilton vows to keep his 'worth' in mind during 'hard' contract talks with Merc

Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton has claimed that he knows his worth as he gears up for contract talks with Mercedes, and knows that it is going to be hard.

Hamilton, who has a salary of 31 million dollars, plans to negotiate his own deal for the first time after severing ties with his management company last year. He claims that he is rookie in this area but said that he is 30 now, and he is his own man, and knows his worth.

Out of contract at the end of 2015, the former McLaren driver said that he wants to remain with the team run by Toto Wolff. He said that he has read every one of his contracts in the past so he knows what is and what can't go and what he can try to get, the BBC reported.

Hamilton claimed that it is going to be hard, adding that Wolff is a big businessman and is great at negotiating and he is up against a rookie, but insisted that he has good grounds for it.

Hamilton claimed that he can't say that he is particularly excited about it, but added that he likes that he is doing them on his own, insisting that no-one's helping, but conceded tat he can of course reach out to people for advice.

Hamilton and Wolff said they would sit down at the end of the 2014 season to begin discussions, but this did not happen.

Hamilton, who joined Mercedes in 2013, claimed that his future is with this team, adding that he plans to be there long term.

Hamilton said that he had the busiest end of season he had ever had and then, when they were in the factory they didn't sit down and talk about it. He revealed that then he went away for quite a long time and only got back towards the end of this month.

But, the British racer said that they are planning to have talks relatively soon.