“We didn’t make him any offers” – Corriere.it

Fred Vasseur’s press conference begins with a big laugh, in the Ferrari hospitality in Montecarlo. We start immediately with the topic of the moment, the rumors concerning an alleged offer of 45 million a year to Lewis Hamilton. «A few weeks I read that Sainz would end up in Audi, that Leclerc would go to Mercedes. I found out about Lewis’ arrival in this one.’

The seven-time world champion, whose contract is about to expire, is not in Maranello’s sights: “We won’t make him an offer and we haven’t done it before.” The relationship between the Frenchman and Hamilton is excellent (Lewis raced in the youth categories in one of the teams directed by Vasseur): «We talk every race weekend, as we have for twenty years. But let’s not talk about contracts. And I won’t stop talking to us now that these rumors have come out.”

Fred says he hasn’t even talked about it with the pilots: «When the word about Hamilton spread, there wasn’t even a need to reassure them. The other time I told them: “Don’t worry, we are in a phase of the season where anything will come out”». But the confirmation of Leclerc and Sainz (their agreements end in 2024) is not a priority: «The priority is to focus on developments and on the car, we must take a step forward. We won’t meet before two months, I thought it before and I think it now: I don’t think we need to change the agenda».

On the other hand Hamilton, still in Montecarlo, has that the negotiations for the renewal with Mercedes are in the final stages. They ask him if he’s been in contact with Ferrari lately. Answer: «No». A marriage that will never take place, with a regret for what could have been in the past. Not now, at 38, with a Ferrari to relaunch.