When Lewis Hamilton announced he was leaving McLaren for Mercedes it sent shockwaves through the sport, ultimately leaving a lot of people - including Pitpass - with egg on their faces as it turned out to be one of the savviest switches in the history of the sport.

However, Toto Wolff's admission over the Barcelona weekend that he and the world champion had discussed a move to Maranello caused the rumour mill to go into overdrive.

"You have to acknowledge that probably it's in every driver's head to drive at Ferrari one day," the Austrian told reporters. "It's the most iconic, historic Formula One brand out there and I totally respect if a driver has the desire to drive at Ferrari.

"Even within the team we have discussed it and with Lewis we have discussed it and we have agreed on the topic," he revealed. "We had the discussion when we negotiated the last contract and I think that you just have to be open-minded and understand that drivers will explore opportunities that exist and benchmark themselves."

With the current form of the Italian team suggesting that Hamilton might be better off eyeing a future at Red Bull or even a return to Woking, the world champion was asked about Wolff's comments.

"I don't really remember what he's referring to," said the Briton. "I think when you're in negotiations you always have to drop in the Ferrari name."

"You come out better!" joked Max Verstappen.

"You come out better," continued Hamilton. "No, naturally in negotiations... Toto's a very intelligent man so we have great negotiations and great conversations and naturally I've been with Mercedes since I was 13, so it's very difficult to see myself anywhere else.

"I have never made it a secret that I've been a Ferrari fan," he added, "particularly Ferrari cars, and that's no secret.

"Do I plan on going elsewhere? I haven't made any plans for my future. At the moment I'm just enjoying driving with this team. I'm enjoying continuous growing with this team and, I mean, it's incredible what we're achieving together, what we have achieved in these six years, seven years or whatever it is, and I plan on working with this team to help it become the most successful team of all time. That's my current goal and my sole focus."

Check out our Sunday gallery from Barcelona, here.

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1. Posted by DRAGON F1, 15/05/2019 15:09

"Mercedes would want to keep Lewis Hamilton as long as possible imo, as Lewis is absolutely the best driver on the grid for many years now! Fact!
And it's great that Mercedes doesn't care if Lewis is not German, nor have any racial preference for that matter! Well done!
Mercedes already had 2 German drivers and they weren't entirely up to par imo - Nico Rosberg was a bit lucky to win in 2016, and knew it, and promptly quit almost on the spot!
Why would Mercedes want Sebastian Vettel when he is performing so badly? I'm quite sure that Mercedes would rather have Charles Leclerc if he impoves a bit more, or take Max Verstappen if they could!

At Ferrari, racial preference could be an obstacles because of some of their negative fans, but I'mqquite certain that Lewis Hamilton would absolutely work his heart out to win the F1 championships for Ferrari!
A move to Ferrari in 2021 would totally interest Lewis and would totally motivate him to stay 2 to 4 more years in F1 imo! "

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2. Posted by BrightonCorgi, 14/05/2019 13:36

"Mercedes would rather have a German as the face of the marque. They were hoping that would've been Schumacher; even if it were from a retired driver perspective. Vettel to Mercedes and Hamilton to Ferrari; I can see that happening in the future.

Hamilton can sell more merchandise for Ferrari than their current driver line up and elevate the marque to where it stood with Schumacher. Ferrari hasn't been the same since Schumacher left."

Hamilton brushes off talk of Ferrari move

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