Lewis Hamilton’s negotiations with Mercedes over a new Formula 1 contract beyond the end of the year are “almost complete,” he said on Thursday, but denied ties to a move to Ferrari. Here’s what you need to know:
- Hamilton, seven-time Formula 1 world champion, no longer has a contract with Mercedes at the end of the current season.
- Reports emerged last week that Ferrari are considering an offer to sign Hamilton for the 2024 season.
- Hamilton shut down the reports on Thursday, saying talks with Mercedes were nearing completion and that there had been no contact with Ferrari.
What Hamilton said
“Of course there will always be speculation in contract negotiations,” said Hamilton. “I think ultimately that’s what it is, unless you hear from me.
“My team is having conversations with the team in the background. We are nearly there.”
When asked if Ferrari had been in contact, Hamilton replied: “No.”
backstory
Since the last race in Miami earlier in the month, reports have surfaced in both the UK and Italy linking Hamilton to Ferrari for 2024 with a potential deal worth nearly $50m per season.
The future of the world’s most successful and best-known F1 driver will always be a hot topic, especially in the final year of his current contract. It’s not new territory for Hamilton.
Since joining Mercedes in 2013, Hamilton has won six of his seven world titles and racked up more than 100 race wins. This makes him the only driver in Formula 1 history to score three-digit numbers.
While earlier periods of negotiations coincided with Hamilton’s successful periods, Mercedes is now in a very different position. Last season’s car design made it difficult to compete regularly with Red Bull and Ferrari, propelling Hamilton into the first winless season of his F1 career. This also ended the streak of eight consecutive constructors’ championships for Mercedes in 2014.
A range of vehicle upgrades will debut at Monaco this weekend as the team looks to change fortunes and seek more performance, and Hamilton said current levels of performance at Mercedes are not impacting negotiations.
In recent years, Hamilton has handled contract extensions himself, including the most recent agreement signed in 2021 for 2022 and 2023, but the negotiations are now being led by his management team.
“It’s a much better position than before,” Hamilton said. “I remember that I used to do my negotiations alone and it was very stressful, so I don’t have to do that anymore.”
Hamilton has always maintained in recent months that he is only focused on staying at Mercedes. Speaking in Australia in early April, he said he wanted his relationship with Mercedes to last well beyond his F1 career and to last into his “last days”, much like 1950s racing icon Stirling Moss.
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Ferrari denies Hamilton’s actions
Current Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz are both signed for next year but that hasn’t stopped burgeoning speculation about a potential Hamilton move.
Before Hamilton’s appearance at the press conference, in which he quashed speculation, Ferrari team boss Frederic Vasseur also denied there had been any talks of a surprise move.
“At this stage of the season there will be a different story (about the drivers) every week,” said Vasseur. “We are not sending Lewis Hamilton an offer. We didn’t do it. We didn’t have any discussions.”
Leclerc laughed at any suggestion he could work with Hamilton in the future, saying he just wanted a fast teammate and that Sainz was “extremely fast”.
When asked if he would welcome driving alongside Hamilton at Ferrari, Leclerc replied: “If I say yes, I imagine that’s the headline in every newspaper!”
“But Lewis is such an incredible driver and has achieved so much in the sport. So I think everyone on the grid would love to have Lewis as a teammate because everyone would learn a lot from him.
“But again, I’m happy where I am and it’s a great relationship with Carlos too.”
Sainz added that he didn’t feel the need to speak to Ferrari about the reports because “there are always rumors like this at this time of year.”
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(Photo: Chris Graythen/Getty Images)