'If Bernie was here, Hamilton would be with Ferrari'

Former F1 driver Mark Webber has been discussing the Lewis Hamilton ongoing contract saga, and has claimed that if Bernie Ecclestone still had an active role in the sport, than he would have made moves to pair the Brit with Sebastian Vettel at Ferrari.

Hamilton has been widely expected to sign a new deal with Mercedes for many months now but the situation has still to be resolved, and the longer that continues, the more the rumour mill will continue to turn.

Ferrari have been hovering in the background, with Hamilton's current deal expiring at the end of the 2018 season, and Webber reckons that former owner Ecclestone would have already paired him up with the German in the red of the Scuderia.

In an interview with Express Sport, he said: “I think if Bernie was still here, he would have him at Ferrari with Sebastian. Bernie would make that deal happen.

“He would want those two guys together at Ferrari but I don’t think that’s going to happen.

“I think it will be the teams as we see them now apart from Daniel [Ricciardo] being the one that has a decision to make.”

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Hamilton's wage demands, if accurate, would make him one of the highest-paid sportsman in the world, and Christian Horner's recent comments suggesting that the breakdown in communication is simply about money is something that Webber agrees with.

He added: “It might be the truth, mightn’t it? It’s not rocket science.

“The driver will generally want an uplift with each contract that he has but the boys are big and ugly, I’m sure they can work it out. They know what they need to do there and Christian is probably just stating the obvious that if Lewis gets happy, then he’ll sign.

“At the moment, they’re just working out the big detail, not the finer details, which is how much you’re going to get paid to do the job.”