A question regarding renewal of postdoc fellowship, and the mentor not making the picture clear I'm a postdoc in Europe on a one year contract, where the renewal is not necessarily guaranteed. When I was interviewed, I was told that the his grant was for a year, and whether it'd renew would depend on the results of his next grant application. After my mentor hired me and things were confirmed, I noticed at least two other advertisements posted by him looking for postdocs, even with slightly increased salary. When I eventually talked to him about renewal, his response was: "I'd first like to work with you and see how you do". When I was hired by him, I was already in my third year of postdoc, and indeed in a top school in the US. Several times he had reminded me that the time is limited-one year, and pushed me to work fast.

Based on the above, I suspect that it's not the case that he doesn't have funding. Questions: Is he telling me lies? Is what he's doing a standard thing to do? I ask this, because I find this rather sketchy and selfish-the mentor wants to divide the money in more than one postdocs to maximize the publications as quickly as possible, but it really doesn't give the postdoc a stability. As you see, I cannot ask him directly about the follow-up advertisements, because obviously he'd say it's none of my business. I think I understand his view-he doesn't want to take a risk, but given that I was already a senior postdoc at a top 20 US school, was productive, switched to something very related and was the first choice for this postdoc position, I don't find a basis for his hesitation. 

I'd very much appreciate your opinion and reflection on this topic. I bolded the questions so that there's no confusion of what I want the answer to.
I find "I'd first like to work with you and see how you do" perfectly reasonable and that's probably his actual position on this issue. What he said during the interview ("depend on the results of his next grant application") is probably also true, just not the whole truth. He wanted you to accept the position after all. As you know, until a contract is signed you have nothing. 

Try setting up regular feedback meetings so that you know "how you do" and can try to improve your performance (and his perception of it) and can adjust your search for the next position accordingly.