Toto Wolff is still confident that Lewis Hamilton will sign up with Mercedes beyond 2018.
Earlier, amid claims a contract announcement was imminent, Hamilton suggested that the process may in fact be delayed.
When asked about the state of the negotiations, boss Wolff told APA about a conclusion to the deal: "It's a matter of days, maybe weeks.
"But the logical outcome is that he stays with us."
Hamilton and Wolff are believed to be squabbling over the contract details, including the retainer and the duration.
"It's about the details that we want to formulate correctly," Wolff said.
"It may be Lewis's penultimate or last contract, so it's about the running time. But I'm very optimistic that it will happen."
The 2018 season gets underway this weekend.