Featured Image Credit: Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images
Topics: Christian Horner, Ferrari, Formula 1, Lewis Hamilton, Motorsport
Ben McAleer
Topics: Christian Horner, Ferrari, Formula 1, Lewis Hamilton, Motorsport
Back in 2023, Lewis Hamilton denied Christian Horner’s claims that the former Red Bull team principal attempted to reach out to the now-Ferrari driver to lure him away from Mercedes.
Horner was sacked by Red Bull in the week after a disappointing season so far, with lead driver Max Verstappen in third place following Sunday’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
Verstappen finished the race in fifth, with Oscar Piastri’s second-placed finish allowing the McLaren driver to move 69 points clear of the Dutchman in the drivers’ standings.
With Red Bull also in fourth in the Constructors’ Championship, Horner was shown the door shortly after the season’s three-week break started.
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Things could have been much different for Horner, however, as back in 2023, the 51-year-old claimed a representative of Hamilton’s reached out about the possibility of swapping Mercedes and Red Bull before the British driver signed a two-year deal with the former.
However, Hamilton rebuffed the claims at the time, though the pair may link up with Ferrari amidst rumours Horner may now take up a role at the Italian manufacturer.
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“I don't really know where that story has come from. I mean I know it's come from Christian,” Hamilton told Sky Sports following the season-ended Abu Dhabi grand prix two years’ ago “I don't really understand what he's been talking about because no one, as far as I'm aware, from my team has spoken to him. I haven't spoken to Christian really in years.
“However, he did reach out to me earlier on in the year about meeting up, but that's it. I just congratulated them on an amazing year and said, 'hopefully soon, I'll be able to fight against you guys in the near future.' That was it. So I'm not really sure, I think he's just stirring things.”
Speaking to the written media, Hamilton stated he was not surprised that people “drop my name in many conversations because they know it's gonna make waves and if you're a little bit lonely and don't get much attention, it's the perfect thing to do.”
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On any approach from Red Bull, Hamilton stated: “I've checked with everyone on the team, and no one's spoken to them, but they have tried to reach out to us.
“Basically, I picked up my old phone which I've just found at home that had my old number on it and I switched it on, obviously hundreds of messages come through and I realised there was one for Christian together and chat at the end of the season.”
Hamilton has endured a rocky start to life at Ferrari, and currently finds himself in sixth place on 103 points in the Drivers’ Championship standings following his fourth-placed finish at Silverstone at the weekend during which a GPS fault denied him an 11th successive podium finish at the historic track.