Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsFerrari

Arrivabene: Ferrari doesn't need Hamilton

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Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene says Ferrari doesn't need Lewis Hamilton, and hints at a potential agreement with Valtteri Bottas.

With Hamilton's contract at Mercedes due to expire at the end of the season and negotiations having been ongoing for a number of months, the double world champion has been linked with a switch to Maranello if he doesn't sign a new deal. However, Arrivabene says the presence of Sebastian Vettel means Ferrari would go for a younger option.

"Why do I need Lewis Hamilton when I have a heavyweight like Vettel?" Arrivabene told Bild. "I would rather look around for a young, talented driver to unite with Sebastian."

And following reports of a deal between Bottas and Ferrari for 2016 or 2017, when asked if the Finn had signed a pre-contract agreement, Arrivabene replied: "I promised in the pre-season that I would never lie to [the media], but for this question it is too early to give a precise answer."

Kimi Raikkonen's deal also expires at the end of the year, with Ferrari holding an option to extend his contract until the end of 2016.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.