Ted Kravitz sneered at the "low-ball offer" reportedly made by Ferrari in an attempt to convince Lewis Hamilton to join.
A report this week claimed the Italian team has prepared a £40m contract offer to tempt Hamilton to leave Mercedes. His current deal with the Silver Arrows expires at the end of this season and Ferrari seem to believe they have a chance of convincing the 38-year-old to start anew.
However, as Kravitz has pointed out, the offer isn't really as significant as it looks. £40m looks like a large sum on paper but, in reality, it is most likely less than what the seven-time world champion earns from his current contract.
Not only that, but the Sky Sports pit lane reporter feels the Scuderia has adopted something of a scattergun approach to recruitment of late. "Firstly, I think the £40m offer is a bit of a low-ball offer for Lewis Hamilton," he said on the latest episode of the Sky F1 podcast.
"It's probably £5m less than what he's on at the moment – and is something Mercedes are going to offer as part of not only the remainder of his driving career, but also a longer-term association with the Mercedes brand which is valuable to Lewis.
"Number two, I think Ferrari are offering everybody a job for anything at the moment. Everyone is on Ferrari's shopping list because Fred Vasseur says he is going to put together a crack team of amazing people around Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc to make them realise this is incredible. They offered Adrian Newey a job with big money!
"They are after the best and the biggest in Formula 1 at the moment as they seek to rebuild so it shouldn't be a surprise if they offer Lewis Hamilton everything. If it was £80m that John Elkann had said then that would get people's attention.
"I don't think he's likely to go, maybe if he wins the elusive eighth at Mercedes once they get the car right eventually then potentially he might go and see if he can win another one with Ferrari but he may be into his 40s by then."
Colleague Naomi Schiff admitted she was "quite excited" by the prospect of Hamilton joining Ferrari, but concurred that such a switch is unlikely. She said: "I don't think it will happen, but every young driver grows up wanting to be a part of the Ferrari team because it has such an incredible legacy.
"Just thinking about Lewis in a red suit – he's been at the same team for so long and change is always exciting. But why would he do it now? Collectively, the two drivers are further back in the championship with Ferrari than they are at Mercedes.
"I think, at this point, he is probably not considering it at all. He's also been very vocal about he also wants to also leave his legacy with Mercedes much like Niki [Lauda] did – so that is also potentially a reason why he might end his F1 days with Mercedes as a driver, and there is potentially an opportunity for him to be part of the team not as a driver going forwards as well."
And presenter Simon Lazenby also made the point that Hamilton would not seem to be any better off by swapping one team not in the title race for another. He said: "Having looked at the first five races of the season, I just think why would he bother moving at the moment?
"I understand the lure of Ferrari, but when you look at them for the last 15 years they have been serial underachievers – they've been a team in constant transition. Whereas Mercedes have the pedigree, they made one philosophical mistake and now they're in transition.
"Maybe that transition period will take last year, this year and they know they're already a year behind if these upgrades get them to the point where they're on a track that they can play development war with Red Bull from the start of next season.
"It's almost Hobson's choice for Lewis. Why not stay with the team that brought you all that success, rather than risk it just to say, 'I was a Ferrari driver' for one point of your career when, really, they have a quick car on a Saturday and they don't on a Sunday."
