Lewis Hamilton on Sunday admitted that he was speaking with rivals Ferrari during the rumours of switching his franchise before he put pen to paper with Mercedes in August.
Hamilton put an end to all the rumours and signed a new two-year deal with Mercedes in August despite being dissatisfied with his current car.
The English international was on top of the world for almost seven years before Red Bull and Max Verstappen stepped in to end his dominance.
Before extending his contract, Hamilton was linked heavily to join Ferrari and now, he confirmed in an interview with Swiss newspaper Blick that he had spoken to them.
However, the 38-year-old also cleared the air on whether he considered joining them by saying that a contract was never on the table.
"Okay, we've definitely had a few irrelevant conversations. I know a lot of good people there. But I never felt ready to move to Italy,” he said.
The future of Mercedes remains uncertain as the franchise still lack the pace of rivals Red Bull and have been unable to win any big event for a long time now.
Team chief, Toto Wolff, also hinted that the car will be thrown in the bin as his drivers have not won any race this season.
Speaking after the Singapore Grand Prix, he said: “We will throw this one in the bin when it's really fast and then embark on a new journey. I think we have encouraging signs from the tunnel of a balanced car that's going to be more together, and we have answers to our questions.
“So, we are really looking at the results with an encouraging perspective.”
It must be noted that Hamilton joined Mercedes in 2013 from McLaren and went on to win six world titles with the brand cementing his name as one of the best Formula 1's drivers. His last title win was in 2020 while his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas was the runner-up.
