Christian Horner has revealed that Red Bull held “a couple of conversations” over the possibility of signing Lewis Hamilton, after the team principal shared his hope that the Mercedes star remains in the sport for “many years to come.
The greatest of rivals on track, Hamilton and Max Verstappen could well have been team-mates, not nemeses, if things had played out differently.
The pair’s rivalry infamously came to a head back in 2021 as Verstappen won his first F1 world championship in controversial circumstances in Abu Dhabi.
The Dutchman has since gone on to dominate the sport and looks well on his way to claiming his third title in as many years this season.
Yet Horner has revealed that rather than spending his years battling on track against Hamilton, Verstappen may well have been driving alongside the seven-time world champion as his team-mate.
Horner: We tried to sign Hamilton for Red Bull
Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton have been long-term rivals in F1
“It’s nothing that we’ve ever considered in the recent past,” Horner said about reported attempts that Red Bull tried to sign Hamilton.
“Obviously, to pay for those two drivers in itself, we would probably have to sell the factory!”
“Lewis is obviously a great driver,” he added. “Hopefully, he’ll be around for many years to come.
“There’s been a couple of occasions in history that we’ve had a couple of conversations about the possibility of joining Red Bull, but that’s not been anytime recently.”
