Toto Wolff has backed Charles Leclerc’s claim that not even a “single conversation” about the Ferrari driver switching to Mercedes has taken place.
“As he said, we didn’t have a single conversation, except maybe at the airport about whether to go to Starbucks,” Mercedes boss Wolff said.
“I don’t know where this rumour came from or if someone is spreading it. But there’s nothing there.”
However, it is clear that with Lewis Hamilton’s contract talks still pending, Mercedes would need a top replacement in the event that the seven time world champion leaves.
“I already have a third driver and he’s not bad at all,” Wolff smiled in the interview with Servus TV, clearly referring to Mick Schumacher.
“But the point is that we’ve been with Lewis for ten years and that’s not going to change,” he added. “In a few years we’ll look around sometime.”
However, reporters openly laughed at Leclerc when he denied the Mercedes talks on Thursday, indicating that the 25-year-old is most certainly shopping around amid Ferrari’s current troubles.
“I could certainly imagine that Charles Leclerc might be hoping that Lewis Hamilton is no longer interested in Mercedes,” Ralf Schumacher told formel1.de.
Leclerc, on the other hand, insisted that it’s all a storm in a teacup.
“Unfortunately we are in a moment in which all my words are used to make a little more noise,” he told La Gazzetta dello Sport.
“I love Ferrari and I want to win with Ferrari. I have nothing else other than that except that I hope that with these words everything is clarified.”
(GMM)
