Ferrari are reportedly preparing an audacious bid to sign Lewis Hamilton from rivals Mercedes for the 2024 F1 season.
F1’s most famous team are willing to offer Hamilton a £40m contract as the Italian outfit attempt to lure the seven-time world champion away from Mercedes, according to the Daily Mail.
It has been claimed that conversations are “advancing at the highest level in Ferrari” with company president John Elkann “already in close contact with Hamilton”.
The report goes on to say that Ferrari ideally want Hamilton to partner Charles Leclerc, which would mean releasing Carlos Sainz from his contract a year early.
Alternatively, Ferrari would reportedly be willing to allow Leclerc to head in the opposite direction in order to land Hamilton.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff recently admitted Leclerc is on his “radar” amid uncertainty over Hamilton’s future with the team.
Hamilton’s Mercedes contract expires at the end of the current season but the 38-year-old is yet to put pen to paper on a fresh deal, despite both sides repeatedly insisting that an extension is a formality.
Speaking at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Hamilton stressed that he sees Mercedes as his home.
“I’d be lying if I said I’d never thought about ending my career anywhere else,” Hamilton told 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 [as a junior driver], so I thought about what it would look like if I was 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.”
Meanwhile, Wolff insisted a new deal will “eventually” be signed between the two parties.
“It’s been 11 years that we’ve been together and every single time when we talk about Lewis’ contract, it’s six months of where are we and what is happening?” Wolff said.
“And we keep saying the same thing, that we are just rolling on. It’s not any difficult contract negotiations. It’s just putting a few different numbers in there. That’s what we do.
“We are working on this. It’s a work in progress, bouncing emails back and forth and eventually we are going to sign it.”
It has been suggested that Hamilton’s decision may be swayed by the success of Mercedes’ long-awaited upgrades which will debut at this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix.
Hamilton is determined to win a record-breaking eighth drivers’ crown before he retires but Mercedes have failed to provide him with front-running machinery since he controversially missed out on the 2021 world title, with his last victory coming at that year’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Keyword: Ferrari reportedly set to offer Lewis Hamilton mega £40m deal for F1 2024 drive