Lewis Hamilton says Mercedes is “home” although Ferrari is rumoured to be planning a bid to sign him for 2024.
The seven-time Formula 1 champion is out of contract at the end of this year and according to the Daily Mail, the Scuderia has prepared a £40m offer to tempt Hamilton to Maranello.
The report adds discussions within Ferrari “advancing at the highest level” while claiming president John Elkann is “in close contact with Hamilton”.
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This is far from the first time that Lewis has been linked to Ferrari but it also comes amid rumours Charles Leclerc has been speaking to Mercedes about a potential move.
As a result, a potential swap deal has been touted although the Daily Mail states Ferrari is also open to ending Carlos Sainz’s contract early to sign Hamilton.
Speaking in Miami, the 38-year-old acknowledged a natural interest in Ferrari but maintained he was a Mercedes man for life.
“I’d be lying if I said I’d never thought about ending my career anywhere else,” he said via ESPN.
“I started at McLaren, I’d like to think I’ll always be a part of the McLaren family, I started there when I was 13 years old, so I thought about what it would look like if I was back at McLaren one day.
“I thought about and watched the Ferrari drivers on the screens at the track and of course, you wonder what it would be like to be in red… But then I go to my team, to Mercedes, and this is my home.
“I’m happy where I am. I haven’t signed a contract yet, but we are working on one.”
Hamilton highlighted his “very special” relationship with team boss Toto Wolff as another reason why he intends to remain at Mercedes and is certain a new deal will be agreed.
“There is no panic [over the contract], we will get to it, neither of us feel pressure, we are always honest,” he said.
“If Toto was talking to someone he would tell me and vice-versa.
“I’ve never ever in my whole time gone and spoken behind a team’s back to someone else to see if I can get them to raise the bar so that he has to raise his bar – I’ve never played that game, and he hasn’t either. So, we have always been straight shooters.
‘But I think ultimately having such a close relationship makes it hard sometimes to have hard business discussions because emotion is involved and we have to be very careful to step out of the circle, put the relationship aside and focus on business and what’s best for us both business-wise. But we have managed to find that balance really well over the years.”
Hamilton says he is also “thinking long-term” about his next contract with retirement still far from his mind.
“I don’t plan on stopping any time soon,” he told ESPN. “I’m not at the end of my career, I’m not in the downhill slope of my career. I’m in my prime.
“It all depends on how hard I want to work and keep myself in my prime, in terms of physical and mental capability.
“If you look at LeBron [James], if you look at Tom Brady, they have shown that it can be sustained for as long as you are dedicated enough to put the energy and time in.
“Right now, I don’t plan on changing, I only plan on adding to the drive and the motivation and to being better. I’m massively driven.”
