Lewis Hamilton has hailed Mercedes as his “dream team” as the world champion made it clear he has no plans to leave when his contract expires after the 2020 season.
The British driver
was linked with a move to Ferrari after the six-time world title winner revealed
in January he had yet to open talks over a new deal with Mercedes.
Ferrari chief
executive officer Louis Carey Camilleri said in December that he was “flattered”
that Hamilton had agreed to discuss his future in conversations with the team’s
chairman John Elkann.
But the 35-year-old
appeared to end talk of a switch on Monday when he said his future remains with
British-based Mercedes.
“There is no dream
of another team. I am with my dream team,” Hamilton said on Instagram.
“There’s not a
thing in my way, as I’m not trying to move. I’m with the people who have cared
from day one.”
Hamilton, who added
that Mercedes were “the best team”, will have been aware that any opportunity
to join Ferrari would be quashed if reports that Sebastian Vettel is moving
towards a new contract are confirmed.
Four-time world
champion Vettel, like Hamilton, is out of contract at the end of the season,
while the German’s team-mate Charles Leclerc has a contract with the Italian
team until the end of 2024.
Vettel last week said
he had made it clear he wanted to stay at Ferrari beyond the end of this
season.
“Whatever the deal
will be like, it is whatever I and the team will be comfortable with. In terms
of duration, normally the contracts I had in the past were all a three-year
deal,” Vettel said.
Hamilton’s future
is being debated while Formula One waits to start the 2020 season, delayed by
the coronavirus.
The first nine
races were postponed or cancelled because of the pandemic.