Christian Horner claims he secretly met with Lewis Hamilton to bring him to Red Bull

Gabriel Dumitrache

22 October 2026, 13:04

Sport

Qian Jun/SPP-Paddocker / imago sportfotodienst / Profimedia

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Former Red Bull team principal Christian Horner claims in his memoir, “Drive,” that he had a secret meeting with Lewis Hamilton before the British driver left McLaren and moved to Mercedes in 2013. According to Horner, the discussion took place in 2012 at the home of technical director Adrian Newey, near Ascot.

The information appears in a review published by The Athletic and cited by Reuters. Horner claims that Hamilton told him Red Bull was his preferred destination and asked what he needed to do to join the team.

At the time, Red Bull dominated Formula 1, with four consecutive constructors’ titles between 2010 and 2013, while Sebastian Vettel was world champion during the same period. Newey was reportedly delighted by the prospect of Hamilton joining, but Helmut Marko allegedly opposed it, concerned about the financial and sporting impact of the move.

Horner says the negotiations ultimately ran aground on the driver’s salary demands, which he described as “exorbitant sums.” Hamilton later joined Mercedes, where he won six world titles between 2014 and 2020, following the championship he won with McLaren in 2008. In 2025, he moved to Ferrari. Horner was dismissed by Red Bull in July 2025.

Context: Before the rumors from Christian Horner’s memoirs became a topic of discussion, Lewis Hamilton was coming off an intense training period at Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton recently stated that the summer break gave him the opportunity to return “in a form” he says he had never experienced before, following three weeks of intense training. He indicated that, although he will compete against younger drivers, he does not consider himself to be behind and aims to achieve results at Ferrari, while the Dutch Grand Prix was due to take place that weekend.

Meanwhile, at championship level, there had also been discussions about changes to the race format: Lewis Hamilton criticized the decisions to shorten race distances starting in 2027 and to introduce the Sprint at Monaco. In this context, Formula 1 was preparing for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, while Kimi Antonelli led the standings after 14 rounds.