The idea that Lewis Hamilton could switch Mercedes for Ferrari always seemed unlikely.
Even if the British driver was prepared to shock the world in similar fashion to how he announced his departure from McLaren to Mercedes, the stumbling block on this occasion was always going to be Sebastian Vettel.
The four-time Formula One World Champion quit Red Bull Racing at the end of 2014 after a poor season in which he was dominated by his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.
Once the contract to replace the outgoing Fernando Alonso was in place, suggestions that Vettel held the power to veto any potential new team-mates replacing on and off track friend Kimi Raikkonen circled around the media.
Despite rumours that Ferrari had made several approaches to Hamilton, the underlying query over Vettel having the final say meant that it was likely that any potential move would ultimately be blocked.
But whilst Hamilton and Mercedes fail to tie-up the 2014 title holders contract beyond this season, rumours will continue until strongly denied by Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene of course.
When asked if he would be interested in signing Hamilton for 2016 he said simply: ?Lewis? No, We are focussed on the current development of the car, we would like to keep the situation as it is as much as Kimi is performing well. At the moment we are not talking with anyone.? Arrivabene told Sky Sports.
But what of the more recent rumour linking Williams driver Valtteri Bottas to Ferrari? ?Bottas is in (the) future and by future I mean Bottas is interesting ? like many other young drivers, he is performing very well,?
?It depends on the performance with Kimi, Of course our goal is to keep the atmosphere we have without creating any unbalanced situation. But also we need the performance for the constructors? championship, because for the points you need two drivers.?
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