Saturday, 19th July 2008

Ferrari F1 boss Stefano Domenicali has dismissed suggestions that he is planning to snatch Lewis Hamilton away from McLaren.

Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali has played down wild rumours suggesting that the Scuderia was about to swoop for a disgruntled Lewis Hamilton by claiming that current drivers Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen both have 'long-term' deals at Maranello.

Domenicali was asked about the possibility of a revised line-up at Ferrari next season after reports surfaced claiming that Hamilton's father, Anthony, had been seen in deep - and evidently secret - discussions with the new Ferrari team chief at Hockenheim. Respected British newspaper The Times published a picture which it suggested was a clandestine conversation between the pair outside a Mercedes-Benz party at Hockenheim on the eve of this weekend's German Grand Prix, but Domenicali dismissed that it was anything more than a passing greeting.

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"What was the story in the English newspaper? I do not know it," he questioned, "I was walking away from Norbert [Haug]'s party because I had other things to do with our sponsor. Anthony just came up behind me and said 'hello' and that's it, very easy. It's nice to see how these things can grow. Everyone has seen it, I think...."

Without further prompting, Domenicali also rubbished the suggestion that Ferrari was in a position to tempt Hamilton Jr - who, along with his manager father, is reported to be growing increasingly unhappy with McLaren - to Maranello.

"It is very easy to answer," he claimed, "For sure, it is not a problem for us as we still have long-term relationships with our drivers, so really there is no rush. I can see a lot of discussions going on but, in that respect, on our side, we are very happy about the situation that we have now."

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