Seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton has admitted that he has one regret involving Red Bull ahead of the British Grand Prix.
Hamilton, 40, is currently sixth in the F1 Drivers’ Standings behind leader Oscar Piastri as well as Lando Norris, Max Verstappen, George Russell and Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc.
The Englishman has earned 91 points in 11 races, while championship leader Piastri is 125 points ahead on 216 heading into this weekend’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
Four-time champion and Red Bull driver Verstappen has struggled and expressed his dismay with his team’s car this season and has even been linked with a shock move to Mercedes for the 2026 campaign.
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Of course, Hamilton, then at Mercedes, went head-to-head with Verstappen for the title in 2021, with the Dutchman clinching the crown during the final race of the season.
At the time, tension between the drivers and respective manufacturers was at an all-time high and several years earlier, while the Brit was at McLaren, he described Red Bull as “not a manufacturer, they are a drinks company”.
"Red Bull are not a manufacturer, they are a drinks company,” Hamilton said in 2011.
“It's a drinks company versus McLaren/Ferrari history. I don't know what their plan is. Our team is building to become a bigger manufacturer, like Ferrari, and I can only see our team being there for a ridiculous amount of time. It is a pure-bred racing team."
But almost 15 years on from his comment, he has admitted that he regrets it.
When asked whether he’d recommend Verstappen switching to Mercedes, he told RacingNews365: "He’s coming from a great team. I think, many, many years ago, I was being asked something about [Red Bull].
"I think I was just so die-hard Mercedes [sic] at the time, and I remember saying something about Red Bull being only an drinks company, and I always regretted it.
"Because I was just saying that as Mercedes [sic] was great at the time, and I was just trying to be gee up my team.
"But the truth is, Red Bull has been an incredible team. There’s so many people that are exceptional. They’ve dominated for years. So what I can say, if anyone was going to ask me about Mercedes, it’s an amazing team also, naturally with passion.
“They’ve got great personnel, it’s a great factory, great environment to work in. So, of course, I would say, interesting to see what happens."
The British GP weekend gets underway on Friday with practice 1 and 2 before practice 3 and qualifying commence on Saturday ahead of Sunday’s race.
Topics: Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, Mercedes, Motorsport
Luke Davies