Christian Horner says Lewis Hamilton’s father Anthony contacted him about a possible move to Red Bull.
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After saying on Wednesday (22) that Hamilton had been in contact earlier this season, Red Bull’s team principal Christian Horner now claims that Anthony, Hamilton’s father, contacted him about Sergio Perez’s seat for the next season.
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On Thursday (23), Hamilton had already denied being in contact with Horner, neither his team, but that the principal team was the one who reached out to him. “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”, said Hamilton.
The British driver signed a two-year contract extension with Mercedes in August. His dad, Anthony, guided the early stages of his career, but since 2010 they split in professional terms and has not been officially part of the driver’s management.
In an interview this Friday (24), ahead of the season ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Horner said that “It’s amazing the fuss that’s come out of this”. “It’s not unusual for there to be an exchange. I’ve known Anthony Hamilton for 15-16 years, so inevitably there’s often an exchange during the course of the season. There’s quite a lot that seems to have been read into this”, he explained.
“I had an exchange. Anthony’s a nice guy. He reached out, I think, I can’t remember, regarding around Sergio, and just asked an enquiring and suggestive question. I don’t know what role Anthony plays in Lewis’ setup or management, but he’s got some form of relationship. I don’t think he was enquiring about himself to come and drive”, added Horner.
There has been some speculation about Sergio Perez’s seat, regarding his poor performance this season, and whether he will continue on the team. Horner clarified that “We’re very happy with the drivers that we’ve got, but of course Lewis hasn’t won a race for almost two years. You can understand questions being asked, it’s entirely logical and normal for those types of things to happen. And as I say, I’ve always had a great relationship with Anthony, he’s a very nice guy, but there is no seat available so it’s really a non-story”.