Lewis Hamilton insists his team are “almost there” as they look to agree a new contract with Mercedes – and denied reports that Ferrari have approached him. The 38-year-old’s current contract with the Silver Arrows, where he has been since 2013, expires at the end of this season. A report this week suggested Ferrari have offered the seven-time F1 world champion – who has won six of his titles with Mercedes – a £40m-a-year contract to join the Scuderia from 2024. Yet Hamilton, who covets a record-breaking eighth crown after missing out controversially in Abu Dhabi in 2021, revealed that his representatives are close to concluding negotiations with Mercedes over an extension. “Naturally, in contract [talks] there’s always going to be speculation,” he said, in his pre-race press conference in Monaco. “Unless you hear from me that’s all it is.” When asked if Ferrari had been in touch, Hamilton simply replied: “No. "Last weekend maybe with the race cancelled they [the media] got bored.” Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur also emphasised that his team have not been in contact with Hamilton. “You know perfectly that at this stage of the season, you will have each week a different story,” he said in Monaco. “And we are not sending an offer to Lewis Hamilton. We didn’t do it.” “We didn’t have discussions. I think every single team on the grid would like to have Hamilton at one stage. I think it would be bull**** to not say something like this. “If I discuss with Hamilton, I discuss the last 20 years, I discussed almost every single weekend with Hamilton. I don’t want to have to stop to discuss with them because you are chasing me.” Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has been adamant in the past few months that despite the delay, Hamilton will extend his deal with the team. “It’s 11 years that we’ve been together,” Wolff said. “Every single time when we talk about Lewis’s contract, it takes months of, ‘Where we are? What is happening?’ And we keep saying the same thing: that it is rolling on. “There’s not any difficult contract negotiations, it’s just putting different numbers in there and that’s what we’re doing and we’re working on this. “It’s a work in progress, bouncing emails back and forth and eventually we’re going to sign it.” Read More Ferrari boss gives Lewis Hamilton update after reports of shock move F1 Monaco Grand Prix: Why is practice no longer on a Thursday? Bernie Ecclestone would be surprised if Lewis Hamilton wanted to leave Mercedes Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes are the biggest losers from Imola Grand Prix cancellation Lewis Hamilton will stay with Mercedes as nowhere else to go – Guenther Steiner

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A billboard has captured the atmosphere in New York, after the city was engulfed in smoke blown down from wildfires raging in Canada. The Canadian province of Quebec is currently experiencing hundreds of shocking wildfires and the pollution has led to the air quality in the city to be categorised as “very unhealthy”. It’s given the city an ‘apocalyptic’ look, with social media full of people sharing images of the city covered in orange smog. One image that has sparked a big reaction is a billboard advertising a new video game, which seems to capture the atmosphere in the city. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter The advert is for the action role-playing game Diablo IV from Blizzard Entertainment and it features a demonic character on the front with the strapline “welcome to hell, New York”. Somehow, that seems strangely accurate right now. Meanwhile, NYC’s Mayor Eric Adams warned that the authorities “recommend all New Yorkers limit outdoor activity to the greatest extent possible” and people in North America have been advised to wear N95 masks outdoors. There are more than 400 wildfires raging in Canada which have led to mass evacuations in Quebec province. While some predictions said NYC might get some relief by Thursday evening, US National Weather Service meteorologist Bryan Ramsey said "conditions are likely to remain unhealthy for at least the next few days", with no end in sight for the wildfires. The city’s health commissioner Ashwin Vasan told reporters on Wednesday that the city’s air quality is at its worst since the 1960s, with conditions expected to last through several days. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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