Lewis Hamilton insists he will stay at Mercedes and denies Ferrari approach

Lewis Hamilton has rejected an approach from Ferrari and said he will stay at Mercedes.

Lewis Hamilton has revealed he will continue to race for Mercedes in Formula 1 with a new deal due to be signed within weeks and denied reports that Ferrari had approached him with an offer to join the Scuderia for closure. The seven-time champion’s contract with Mercedes expires this year, but he dismissed the rumors as mere speculation. Hamilton reiterated his intention to stay with the team with which he won six championships. But reports emerged earlier this week that Ferrari’s offer could rival his £40m-a-year salary at Mercedes and that their driver Charles Leclerc could move to Mercedes. Ahead of this week’s Monaco Grand Prix, Hamilton dismissed the incident and said he would soon discuss a new contract with Mercedes chief executive Toto Wolff.

Toto Wolff: Mercedes ‘100% ready’ to protect Lewis Hamilton

“Obviously there’s always speculation in contract negotiations, and ultimately there will be until you hear what I have to say,” he said. “Our team is working closely with Toto behind the scenes and we are close to finalizing the deal.”

When asked if Ferrari had approached him, Hamilton said flatly and categorically that they had not. He also dismissed suggestions that Mercedes’ poor form over the past two seasons had influenced his decision-making process. “No, it doesn’t affect us because we’re still a championship team,” he said. “We don’t have the right car. A lot of decisions have been made in the last two years that are not ideal and we are working on them. “I have a great team that handles all the negotiation work so I can fully focus on my work. “I’ll tell you what I want and we’ll try to do it in the next few weeks.”

Ferrari are still behind championship leaders Red Bull, so there is no incentive for Hamilton to move to a team he would need to build a partnership with from scratch. He has been with Mercedes since 2013 and said he would like to continue his career with the team after retirement, including in an ambassadorial role. Wolff said he expects to sign a new contract soon. Hamilton stressed that the team will be scrutinized when they bring an updated version of the car to the first meeting this weekend. After announcing that it had taken a wrong design direction after the first race of the season in Bahrain, Mercedes has spent months developing a new concept that will debut in Monaco. Most importantly, they ditched the zero side concept they adopted, but these changes extend to the entire car, including the front suspension and floor, to apply a new philosophy of controlling the airflow in the car. Red Bull 2021 is all about turning the basic shock rules into extremely fast cars.

2023 didn’t go as planned, did it? Here in Britain, Chancellor Rishi Sunak has promised us a government of stability and competence, as well as professionalism, integrity and accountability, after the roller-coaster ride of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss. Do you remember Liz? These days it seems like a forgotten comedy act. Instead, Sunak took us through the looking glass into a conservative psychodrama. Elsewhere, the pictures weren’t as good. In the United States, Donald Trump is now getting the support of many people to become president again. The war in Ukraine will never end. The danger that the rest of the world will tire of the struggle and lose interest is all too clear. And not to mention the climate crisis, there is also a war in the Middle East…

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