With Lewis Hamilton’s new Mercedes contract being “almost” ready, team principal Toto Wolff has revealed how he knew all the rumours regarding Ferrari were untrue, following reports from the Daily Mail last week linking the Briton to Maranello.
It was reported ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix that Ferrari were preparing a £40 million offer for the seven-time World Champion, something which was denied ahead of the Grand Prix by the 103-time race winner and Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur.
Wolff also confirmed that the Hamilton-Ferrari rumours were false, with him having sharply admitted that it was “not happening”.
The Austrian also revealed at the Circuit de Monaco that the only thing missing from Hamilton’s contract extension is a date, meaning the deal is virtually ready to be signed by the 38-year-old.
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“No, not happening,” Wolff told Channel 4.
“We just need to put the date on the contract and sign it.”
It’s not just Hamilton’s future which has been speculated about over the recent weeks, with Italian media having recently reported that Charles Leclerc was holding secret conversations with Mercedes.
This was again completely denied by Wolff, who revealed ahead of the Monaco GP that the Silver Arrows have a “pact”, to not hold conversations with other drivers until it’s for certain that a seat would become available for the following season.
With Hamilton having never looked remotely like leaving Mercedes, it does appear that perhaps all the rumours linking Leclerc to the Germans were false.
READ: Charles Leclerc teases media over Lewis Hamilton joining Ferrari
“We’ve had a pact – and we’ve had that since many, many years – that we wouldn’t talk to any other driver before we have taken a decision to stay together or not, so I was never a millimetre in doubt that there were any discussions,” Wolff said, as reported by Sky Sports F1.
“Someone just placed that (story), maybe to, in a way, to play a role in what seemed to be negotiation, but it is not negotiation, it is sitting at a table and saying, ‘what is it we need to adapt to in the contract?’ So there’s nothing to it.
“The contract was ready in 2013, we’ve never really changed a lot of words in there… just the dates and the number of marketing days.”