'Fred Vasseur made an offer to Lewis Hamilton, but knew he wouldn't leave Mercedes'

Ferrari – Lewis Hamilton, was there any contact?
Since his first day in Maranello, Frederic Vasseur has been looking around to build his Ferrari team. Both in terms of departures and arrivals, the Frenchman has conducted and is carrying out important operations. At the top of the former Sauber boss’s priority list is the improvement of the technical structure, and for this reason, the team principal of the Prancing Horse is trying to use all possible allies in the recruitment campaign, which has so far seen the arrival of Loïc Serra, a tire expert from Mercedes.

The names of the technicians, except for hyper-known profiles like Adrian Newey, do not really excite the fans, who would like more high-profile signings. And, at the media level, no pairing makes more noise than Lewis Hamilton in Ferrari, a market bombshell comparable to the one in 1995 when the paddock was shocked by Michael Schumacher’s arrival in Maranello.

Michael Schmidt’s comments
There might have been some approach, and perhaps Ferrari has indeed made an offer to the seven-time world champion. This was confirmed by German journalist Michael Schmidt of Auto Motor und Sport, a veteran in the motorsport industry:

“I don’t recall an extension of Lewis Hamilton’s contract that happened from one day to another, but in the end, it was always announced. It is said that Fred Vasseur made an offer to Hamilton, and I don’t deny it. I think Vasseur knows well that Lewis won’t go anywhere, but he also needs Ferrari to show a bit of dynamism,” said Schmidt. “I also think Hamilton is intelligent enough. He knows very well that even if Ferrari pays him double, things won’t necessarily be better there: Ferrari is not ahead of Mercedes as a car. But every problem at Mercedes would be multiplied at Ferrari because it’s even more under the spotlight.” – Michael Schmidt reports in the latest Auto Motor und Sport episode

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The reasons for a “no”
It is fair to say that after these initial talks, mostly concentrated in late spring, there has been nothing else. Hamilton – whose contract with Mercedes expires at the end of the year – is expected to renew (“The extension is down to the details,” he said himself), while Ferrari already has its reference driver in-house, and his name is Charles Leclerc: the Monegasque represents a guarantee not only for his talent but also because he has at least ten years of career ahead of him and is therefore ready to be tailored to the team.

Changing teams, both for him and for Hamilton, would mean taking a leap into the unknown, a gamble that would not guarantee any improvement in the fight against Red Bull. Moreover, talking about the market again could negatively affect the serenity of Charles Leclerc, whom Fred Vasseur wants to be the centerpiece of the future. One of the few who is already in Ferrari, because for now in Maranello, the focus has been mainly on departures: it is no coincidence that the people most linked to Mattia Binotto are all out of the Scuderia, starting from David Sanchez (who will be one of the directors at McLaren) and ending with Laurent Mekies. The Frenchman was officially greeted before the Spa-Francorchamps weekend, and his duties will be taken over by Diego Ioverno.