Lewis Hamilton took to Instagram to dismiss lingering speculation that he is lining up a move to Ferrari, but later deleted the message.
The short-lived post was in response to a story in the the Sun, headlined “Stalled by Seb: Lewis Hamilton’s dreams of mega-mony Ferrari move dashed as Sebastian Vettel reveals plans to stay.”
“First off, there is no dream of a dash to another team. I am with my dream team,” Hamilton wrote.
“Second, there’s not a thing in my way as I’m not trying to move. I’m with the people who have cared from day 1. We are the best team! @mercedesamgf1.”
The message was later deleted from Hamilton’s account and he has since posted about playing Gran Turismo on his PlayStation as well as a photo of his pet bulldogs, Roscoe and Coco.
The news story was based on Vettel’s comments last week that there is a high chance he will sign a new Ferrari contract for next year in the coming months.
But the story also made use of quotes and speculation from the end of last year, including Ferrari CEO Louis Camilleri claiming that the Italian team was “very flattered that Lewis in particular, and other drivers, want to join us.”
Like Vettel, Hamilton is out of contract at the end of 2020 but both he and Mercedes have talked publicly about extending their contract beyond the end of the year.
The six-time world champion has won five of his titles with Mercedes and said in February that he wanted to make a strong start to the season before working through the details of a new contract with team boss Toto Wolff.
Since then, the F1 season has been put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic and Hamilton has remained relatively quiet on social media while self-isolating.