Lewis Hamilton has dismissed Italian media speculation that Ferrari are poised to dismiss team boss Fred Vasseur and that he is considering his future with the team as total "nonsense".

The seven-time world champion asked reporters to "stop making stuff up" as he delivered an impassioned response to the reports on the eve of this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix, an event he has won a record-equalling seven times.

"To everyone that's writing stories of me considering not racing, I've literally only just started with Ferrari," he said during a news conference at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

"I'm here for several years. I'm here for the long haul, so there's no question about where my head's at and what I'm working towards achieving with this team."

"There are zero doubts so, please, stop making up stuff," added Hamilton.

Italian media stories had suggested Vasseur was responsible for the team's disappointing start to the season when they had been expected to challenge McLaren for the championship.

After nine races, with Hamilton, 40, brought in as a marquee signing to lead a title bid, the team languish 197 points behind McLaren in the teams' title race while Hamilton and Charles Leclerc are winless in a drivers' championship led by the two McLaren drivers.

Hamilton said: "I was made aware of this just before I got here so I've not read the stories and it's definitely not nice to hear that there are stories like that out there."

Earlier, Carlos Sainz, the driver Hamilton replaced at Ferrari, had also launched a strong defence of Vasseur and, like Hamilton, blamed the media for stirring up a crisis that did not exist.

"Same story as always, the moment that the results don't click in Ferrari, there's always finger-pointing by the media, and all this chaos happening," said Sainz, who now races for the rapidly improving Williams team.

This weekend, the Canadian Grand Prix takes centre stage with McLaren still out alone on top of the standings and lots of work to do for the chasing pack.