Lewis Hamilton reacts to Charles Leclerc saying he would like Brit as team-mate

Lewis Hamilton has shot down rumours linking the seven-time champion to Ferrari as he responds to Charles Leclerc’s comments in Monaco.  The Ferrari driver admitted he would like Hamilton as his team-mate amid speculation the Scueria have submitted an offer for the Briton. 

When pushed on whether he would welcome Hamilton, Leclerc said: “Lewis is such an incredible driver and has achieved so much in the sport. So I think anyone on the grid would love to have Lewis as a team-mate as everybody would learn a lot from him.”

Smiling at the praise, Hamilton responded: “Firstly thank you for the nice words, I think naturally when you’re in contract negotiations there is always going to be speculation. Unless you hear it from me that is all it is.”

When pushed on where the stories had come from, Hamilton added: “Well there’s a certain individual in this room that’s written at least one of them. I don’t know maybe with the race being cancelled they just got bored.”

Hamilton was later asked directly whether he had received anything substantial from Ferrari to which he replied “No.” It comes after The Mail reported that Ferrari were planning a £40million a year to secure the services of the seven-time champion. 

It claimed the team’s preference was to line-up Hamilton alongside Leclerc from 2024. However, the article revealed Ferrari had not ruled out swapping out Leclerc to secure Hamilton at the team. 

When asked what he wanted from a team-mate, Leclerc turned his head to face Hamilton, laughing: “Hello Lewis?” He added: “A fast team-mate as everybody we are in Formula One and we love to be fighting against the best. 

He commented: “As a joke I could say that two weeks ago you were sending Sainz to Audi, one week ago you sent Leclerc to Mercedes – now I am alone. You know perfectly that at this stage of the season each week you will have a different story and we are not sending an offer to Lewis Hamilton, we didn’t do it.”