Lewis Hamilton: Ferrari has not offered a contract to the Mercedes driver, says Frederic Vasseur before the Monaco GP | F1 news

Lewis Hamilton was reportedly offered 40m to join Ferrari, but the Italian team principal denies this; Hamilton has been with Mercedes since 2013 and his future has been a major topic of conversation this month; watch the Monaco GP live on Sky Sports F1 this weekend

Ferrari has not made a contract offer to Lewis Hamilton, team manager Frederic Vasseur says.

It was reported earlier this week that Ferrari had made a £40million bid for Hamilton, with the seven-time world champion currently a free agent until 2024 as his contract with Mercedes expires at the end of this season.

Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz have both signed contracts to continue with Ferrari next year.

“As a joke, I could say that two weeks ago you sent Sainz to Audi, a week ago you sent Leclerc to Mercedes – now I’m alone,” Vasseur said ahead of this weekend’s Monaco GP.

“You know perfectly well that at this stage of the season every week you have a different story and we’re not sending an offer to Lewis Hamilton, we didn’t.”

Asked if he had spoken to Hamilton or if he would, Vasseur said: “We had no discussions. I think every team on the grid would like to have Hamilton at one point, it would be crazy not to say something like that.

“If I talk to Hamilton, for the last 20 years I’ve talked to Hamilton almost every single weekend, I don’t want to stop to talk to him because you’re chasing me.”

No discussions with Leclerc and Sainz

Leclerc signed a five-year contract with Ferrari in 2019, while Sainz penned a new multi-year contract that will also take him to the end of 2024.

Vasseur says he hasn’t had to convince his drivers about their future with the team.

“Last week you sent them to Sauber and Charles to Mercedes, they didn’t come to see me and say, ‘Fred, don’t worry, it’s not true,'” he said.

“We know we have a new rumor every week and we’re just focused on the car.”

Sainz also echoed Vasseur’s comments, but admits he would like to confirm his future by the start of next season.

“I don’t feel I need to [talk with Vasseur about my future]”, Sainz explained. “I know this time of year there are always rumors like this. It’s a silly season.

“A week and a half ago I was going to Audi, a week ago Charles was going to Mercedes, now Lewis is going to Ferrari. That’s the story of our lives at this time of year. I’ve been [in F1] long enough to know it’s that time of year.”

Ferrari focuses on the car

Ferrari challenged Red Bull in the first half of last year and led the championship early on, before their title challenge disappeared due to mistakes and reliability issues.

They are the only team apart from Red Bull to take pole position in Baku with Leclerc, and Vasseur says Ferrari is focusing on its car and not the future of its drivers.

“I told you last week or two weeks ago that the most important thing for us is to stay focused on the progress of this season,” he said.

“In a couple of months, we will have a place to discuss the future, and it’s time to talk.

– I didn’t want to talk to them about the continuation, and I haven’t changed, I told my position that the most important thing is to try to take a step forward to be able to compete with Red Bull, and let’s stay focused on this.”

The Ferrari team boss added: “We agreed to discuss the contracts later and I don’t want to move because we had rumors from someone that Lewis could come or Charles could go or Carlos could go. We will deal with our work internally and I will focus on the plan.”

Why would Hamilton leave now?

Hamilton is fourth in the drivers’ championship after five races of the 2023 season, 63 points ahead of Max Verstappen, but 12 and 22 ahead of Ferrari’s Sainz and Leclerc.

Mercedes is also 18 points ahead of Ferrari in the constructors’ championship, but the latter has had pole position.

Sky Sports F1s Simon Lazenby asks why Hamilton would want to join a team that is currently further out of the championship race than he is at the moment.

“After the first five races of the two, I was just wondering, why would he bother moving at this time?” he said.

“It’s not as if anyone else, apart from Aston Martin, has achieved victories. Christian Horner said after the race in Miami ‘where are the others?’.

“I understand the appeal of Ferrari, but if you look at them for the last 15 years, they’ve been in bad shape in the series – they’ve been a team in constant flux. Even though Mercedes have the pedigree, they made one philosophical mistake and now they’re in transition again – maybe this transition period will last the last in, this year and they know they are already a year behind if these updates get them to the point where they can play a development war with Red Bull. to the beginning of next season.

“It’s almost a Hobson’s choice for Lewis – why not stay with the team that brought you all the success instead of taking that risk just to say ‘I was a Ferrari driver’ for one point in your career, even though they have a really fast car on Saturday and they don’t on Sunday.”

Sky Sports F1Monaco GP live schedule

Friday May 26
10.05: F3 qualifying
At 12:00 Monaco GP Practice One (session starts at 12:30)
14.05: F2 qualifying
15.45: Monaco GP Practice Two (session starts at 16.00)
17.30: F1 Show: Monaco

Saturday, May 27
9.55am: F3 Sprint
11:15 a.m.: Monaco GP Practice Three (session starts at 11:30 a.m.)
1:30 p.m.: F2 Sprint
2:30 p.m.: Monaco GP qualifying round
3 p.m.: Monaco GP qualifying
16.45: Ted’s certificate of qualification

Sunday May 28
7.15: F3 Feature Race
8.45: F2 Feature Race
12:30 p.m.: The build-up to Grand Prix Sunday’s Monaco GP
At 14:00 MONACO GRAND PRIX
4 p.m.: Checkered flag Monaco GP reaction
5 pm: Ted’s notebook
5:30 p.m.: 107th Indy 500

Formula 1 now heads to the streets of Monaco for the sixth Grand Prix of the 2023 season – watch all the action on Sky Sports F1 from 26-28 May. Get Sky Sports