An alleged contract offer from Ferrari to seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton has recently made big headlines in Formula 1. Now team boss Fred Vasseur has commented on the rumors – and admitted that every racing team would be interested in the Mercedes driver.
Formula 1 racing team Ferrari has not and will not submit a contract offer to Lewis Hamilton in the near future. That’s what Frederic Vasseur said on Thursday in Monaco: “There’s a different story every week at this stage of the season, and we didn’t make an offer to Lewis Hamilton.” He also had “no conversations” with the 38-year-old, he made it unmistakably clear.
Two weeks ago Carlos Sainz was written to Audi, a week ago Leclerc to Mercedes. “Now I’m on my own,” Vasseur joked.
Lewis Hamilton also denied possible negotiations with Ferrari. When asked if Ferrari had contacted him, the Brit replied succinctly: “No.” But an extension at Mercedes is almost certain: “My people are working on it with Toto Wolff in the background, we’ve almost finished the contract.”
At the beginning of the week, the English “Daily Mail” reported that Scuderia was planning to offer the Mercedes star a contract worth around 46 million euros. Ferrari boss John Elkann is said to be in close contact with Lewis Hamilton. To make room for the Englishman, there would be two scenarios: either Charles Leclerc would move to Mercedes in return, or Carlos Sainz would lose his post.
Ferrari boss Vasseur: “It would be stupid not to say something like that”
Nevertheless, the team boss, who switched to Ferrari at the beginning of the year, admitted: “I think every single team would like to have Hamilton at some point. It would be stupid not to say something like that.”
His two regular Ferrari drivers Leclerc and Sainz meanwhile dealt with the hot speculation extremely professionally, according to Mattia Binotto’s successor. “They didn’t come up to me and say, ‘Fred, don’t worry, it’s not true.’ We’re used to it and we know there’s going to be a new rumor every week. We just focus on our work.”
A possible contract extension with the two pilots is still not planned. “The most important thing for us is that we focus on development this season. In a few months we will talk about the future. Then it will be time to discuss it.”