“That backfired on me” – Christian Horner reveals his regret of not signing Lewis Hamilton for Red Bull before his fateful move to Mercedes.
Lewis Hamilton has won seven world titles – one with McLaren, and the rest with Mercedes. But had Red Bull team boss Christian Horner wanted, he could have ensured Hamilton won all those titles for Red Bull instead.
But Horner decided to pass on the opportunity of signing the Brit, as that would have meant “two alpha drivers” pairing up – Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel.
Horner instead convinced Mercedes executive Niki Lauda to poach Hamilton from McLaren, as Red Bull viewed McLaren as a bigger threat at the time. The rest, as they say, is history.
“Lewis and I have had a couple of conversations over the years.
“From 2010 to 2013, he was very keen to come and drive for Red Bull. We had Sebastian at that time and to have had two alpha drivers wouldn’t have made sense.
“Niki Lauda was at Mercedes and was very keen to take Lewis and I remember encouraging him to take him.
“We were fighting McLaren and in 2012, they had the fastest car and we felt that Lewis in a McLaren would be more of a threat than in a Mercedes.
“I encouraged Niki to spend the money as Lewis was wavering a little bit. It would be fair to say that backfired on me.”
How long will Max Verstappen drive for Red Bull?
Max Verstappen and Red Bull are made for each other, so it was no surprise they extended their collaboration to 2028. This kind of longevity of commitment is special, and Horner is delighted to have the Dutch onboard for many more seasons to come.
“We have huge confidence in Max. Otherwise, we would never have committed to that time scale.
“To go to 2028 is almost unheard of in this sport, to commit to a driver for that period of time. He is a massive asset to us.
“He strongly believes in the team and it is down to us to provide him with the tools to get the job done.
“At some point, Lewis will slow down or he’ll stop and, of course, he is going to have a massive challenge with a very competitive young team-mate and hungry team-mate this year who is going to be one of the best drivers on the grid. George Russell is a phenomenal talent.
‘In Max, at 24, we have looked to lock down what we believe will be the purple patch of his career.
‘Having won this first world championship, it relieves an awful lot of pressure. That is in the bank now.
“It is on his CV. He will continue to grow now he has got that first one out of the way. We saw that with Sebastian Vettel.”
