Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur firmly rejected reports the team had made an offer to Lewis Hamilton.
A newspaper report earlier this week claimed the team had made an eight-figure offer to secure the services of Hamilton, whose Mercedes contract expires at the end of this season.
But Vasseur made it clear no such offer had been made. “You know perfectly that at this stage of the season, you will have each week a different story,” he told media in Monaco. “And we are not sending an offer to Lewis Hamilton. We didn’t do it.”
The Ferrari boss jokingly referred to other recent stories claiming his drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jnr were being courted by rivals. “I could say that two weeks ago you send Sainz to Audi, one week ago you send Leclerc to Mercedes, now I’m alone!” he said.
Vasseur ran Hamilton in his GP2 (now Formula 2) team ART in 2006, winning the championship. The pair remain on good terms but there have been no contract talks, he said.
“We didn’t have discussions. I think every single team on the grid would like to have Hamilton at one stage. I think it would be bullshit to not say something like this.
“If I discuss with Hamilton, I discuss the last 20 years, I discussed almost every single weekend with Hamilton. I don’t want to have to stop to discuss with them because you are chasing me.”
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2023 Monaco Grand Prix
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