Mercedes boss Toto Wolff s💙ays the team will begin discussions over Lewis Hamilton’s future “much earlier” during the 2021 Formౠula 1 season in a bid to avoid another repeat of prolonged talks.

On Monday it w🐬as announced that Hamilton had signed a one-year extension to remain with Mercedes for the upcoming 2021 campaign but negotiations ended up b꧟eing a long-running saga following a number of delays.

The COVID-19 pandemic initially put a hold on talks amid a clustered 17-round calendar, before foc🐷us quickly shifted to securing both world championships. Both parties then hoped to sit down and thrash out an agreement at the end of the year but further delays were hit when first Hamilton, and then Wolff, contracted the virus.

In the end, talks did not properly start until the week leading up until Chri💎stmas. After months of intense speculation, Hamilton finally put pen to paper last week, though the deal only covers the current season, meaning Mercedes will once again need🐎 to sit down and discuss Hamilton’s future.

“It’s al🐼ways tricky to find some times whilst racing, but we have learned the lesson that there could be external factors that can delay discussions and we don’t want to end up in January again,” Wolff said.

“So probably we are going to pick up chattꦜing abouไt 2022 much earlier.

“We agreed jointly that we didn’๊t want to drag it on us as much or aﷺs long as we did this time around and we’re trying to find some facts together during the season.”

SEE ALSO: Assessing six possible F1 driver line-up options for Mercedes in 2022

Mercedes does not have any drivers under contract for 2022 but Wolff insists that Hamilton and teammate Valtteri Bottas will be given priority to discuss terms, despite indicating that the German manufacturer needs to plan for the future, with Mercedes-backed George Russell anಞd Red Bull's Max Verstappen mooted as possible long-term options. 

“Valtteri and Lewis have our 100 per cent commitment and loyalty for 2021, we will support them with everything we ha꧒ve,” Wolff explained.

“We will then look beyond this year and say what is the line-up that we imagine in 2022 and 💯onwards.

“Our first discussions are g🌠oing to be with Valtteri and Le༒wis in respecting our values of loyalty and integrity.

“But on the other side the young drive𒈔rs are the future, and therefore w꧑e need to consider how we want to set ourselves up for the years beyond.”