Ferrari told they ‘face paying Lewis Hamilton £80m a year’ to steal Brit

Hamilton opens up on plans to remain in F1 ahead of 2023 season

Lewis Hamilton could demand more money to consider moving to Ferrari with £40million nowhere near enough, according to F1 analyst Peter Windsor. He has claimed the seven-time champion could demand sums of up to £80m to consider a switch to the Prancing Horse.

Ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix, The Mail reported that the Italian marque were considering a move for Hamilton. If successful, Ferrari could even be prepared to use Charles Leclerc in a swap deal with the Silver Arrows.

But, Windsor has claimed the £40m valuation was way too low for a man of Hamilton’s talents. He told his YouTube channel: “If I was Lewis Hamilton, I’d be going for a lot more than £40m because you could argue that Lewis, with the Ferrari brand and what he could do for the Ferrari brand, should be thinking in terms of at least £50m just for PR and brand turnaround.

“And then how much is he worth as a driver, as a pure race driver? You’d have to say £25-30m. Forty? I would say about 80 would be more logical.”

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Last week, Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur denied the team had been in touch with Hamilton’s representatives. The British F1 icon also refused to draw on the rumours, suggesting the story emerged because people were “bored”.

The Mercedes driver also revealed that a new extension to remain at the German marque was close and could be finalised within “weeks”. Windsor claimed Hamilton should stay at Mercedes if Ferrari refused to increase his pay due to the uncertainty of switching squads.

He added: “If Lewis is going to Ferrari, it’s such a big unknown in terms of how competitive that car would be that, if I was Lewis, I wouldn’t go for less than 80.

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“I did say £100m to a mate the other day and he said: ‘That’s a bit much, isn’t it? I said: ‘OK, let’s bring it down to 80…’

“But 40? You’ve got to be joking. If he does it for 40, hats off to him because it means he’s just doing it for the love of the sport. I’m not decrying the enormity of £40m, but I’m just saying that he might as well stay at Mercedes really.”

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