Lewis Hamilton has insisted he will continue to race in Formula One at Mercedes, with a new contract expected to be signed within weeks, and has denied a report that Ferrari had approached him with an offer to join the Scuderia. The seven-time champion’s contract with Mercedes ends this year but he dismissed the rumours as speculation.
Hamilton has persistently reiterated his intention of staying with the team, with whom he has won six championships. However, earlier this week it was reported that a Ferrari bid would potentially match his £40m-a-year Mercedes salary and involve a swap, with their driver Charles Leclerc moving to Mercedes. Speaking before this week’s Monaco Grand Prix, Hamilton rejected the story and confirmed he expected negotiations with Mercedes’ principal, Toto Wolff, to conclude in a new deal shortly.
“Naturally, when you are in contract negotiations there will always be speculation and ultimately unless you hear it from me then that’s what it is,” he said. “My team is working closely behind the scenes with Toto and we are almost at the end of having the contract ready.”
Hamilton answered with a blunt and unhesitant “no” when asked if he had been approached by Ferrari. He also rejected suggestions that Mercedes’ poor form in the past two seasons was playing a part in his decision-making process.
“No, it doesn’t have a bearing because we are still a championship-winning team,” he said. “It’s just we have the wrong car, there have been some decisions that have been made over the past two years that have not been ideal and we are working our way through that.
“I have got a great team in the background that are doing all the [negotiating] work so I can focus fully on the job at hand. I say what I want and that’s what we are working towards, hopefully in the coming weeks.”
With Ferrari still trailing championship leaders Red Bull by some distance, there is no major incentive for Hamilton to switch to a team where he would have to build working relationships from scratch. He has been with Mercedes since 2013 and has said he wants to see out his career with the team, including taking on an ambassadorial role after he retires. Wolff has already said he was expecting to conclude a new deal sooner rather than later.
As Hamilton noted, the team are under scrutiny this weekend as they bring the revamped version of their car to its first meeting. Having announced after the first race of the season in Bahrain that they had pursued the wrong design direction, Mercedes have spent the months since working on a new concept which will make its debut in Monaco.
Most noticeable is the abandonment of the zero-sidepod concept they had adopted but the changes range across the car, including the front suspension and the floor in pursuit of adapting a new philosophy governing the car’s airflow, likely to be more akin to how Red Bull have managed to develop 2021’s ground-effect regulations into a fearsomely quick car.
