Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur has claimed the Scuderia “would like to have Lewis Hamilton” but has denied an approach has been made for the seven-time champion. The Frenchman admitted “every team” in F1 would love to get Hamilton behind the wheel. 

But, he stressed any discussion with Hamilton were not related to a bid for the star despite rumours ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix.  Vasseur said: “We didn’t have discussions. I think every single team on the grid would like to have Hamilton at one stage, it would be bull**** to not say something like this.

“If I discuss with Hamilton, the last 20 years I discussed almost every single weekend with Hamilton, I don’t want to have to stop to discuss with him because you are chasing me.”

Hamilton has been linked with a move to the Scuderia for weeks with speculation rising in recent days. Earlier this week, The Mail reported that Ferrari were set to submit a £40million a year bid for the champion. 

The newspaper claimed the Italian marque’s preferred option would be to partner Hamilton alongside Carlos Sainz. But, they could even swap out Charles Leclerc in order to get a deal with Hamilton over the line.

Although Vasseur cooled the rumours as he confirmed there had been no bids in the run-up to the weekend. He added: “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.”