23/05/2023
NEWS STORY
British tabloid claims that Lewis Hamilton is in talks to make a £40m ($50m) move to Ferrari next season.
The seven-time champion has been linked with the Maranello outfit for some time, and while he has previously admitted that it is every driver's dream to wear the colours of the Scuderia, he has always insisted that he will see out his career with Mercedes.
The Briton's contract with the German team is in its final year, and despite positive noises from both he and team boss, Toto Wolff there has been no sign of the traditional 'announce'.
The usual suspects in the world of click-bait have been linking Hamilton with Ferrari for some time, whilst also claiming that Charles Leclerc is looking to leave, possibly to Mercedes, however few have paid any real attention to the speculation, after all, based on the current evidence for both drivers it would appear to be a case of jumping from the frying pan straight into the fire.
Leclerc is slowly learning what the likes of Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel learned before him, and even though we all remember Ferrari's last golden era, Michael Schumacher spent four-long seasons at Maranello before it all came good.
The Mail claims that Ferrari chairman, John Elkann is in close contact with Hamilton, but there is no clue as to who he would replace, Leclerc and Carlos Sainz both having another season on their contracts.
When asked about the Mercedes rumours in Miami, and whether he had spoken to Wolff, Leclerc said: "No... Zero... Zero... Really zero!
The assembled media clearly unconvinced by his reply, he said: "You all smile because you don't believe me, but I promise... "I'm fully committed to Ferrari and I love Ferrari. It has always been a dream for me to be in this team and my main priority is to win a world championship with this team. So it's not something in my mind."
When asked if preliminary talks had taken place, he replied: "No, not yet... not for the moment. For now, I am fully focused on the project I am in today, which is Ferrari and I fully trust and am confident for the future. Then we will see, but I am fully confident for the project of Ferrari."
"The only time I talked with him is when we discussed where the gate is in Melbourne to board the plane," said Wolff, when asked about Leclerc.
"Charles is a super guy," he added, "and for the long-term future someone you have to have on your radar but not for the short and medium term.
"Nobody doubts Charles' ability and he is a good guy. He is 100 per cent committed to Ferrari and we are 100 per cent committed to putting pen to paper with Lewis."
No doubt Stefano Domenicali and the gang would love to see it happen.