Record Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton explains why he doesn’t want to join Red Bull and would rather beat the bulls with his Mercedes team
Has Lewis Hamilton approached Red Bull for a cockpit or not? While opinions differ widely among the bulls and Hamilton himself, the record Formula 1 world champion has now reiterated that he does not want to leave Mercedes
“Let’s be realistic. Every single driver who competes here dreams of being in the winning car,” explains Hamilton, but immediately clarifies: “It wouldn’t do me much good if I just got into the car that is the most dominant car of all time.”
“I think it would be better for my legacy if I could work with my team to beat it,” says Hamilton. In other words: in his opinion, beating Red Bull would be a greater success than winning another world championship title in the Red Bull.
It was only this year that Hamilton extended his Mercedes contract until the end of 2025, but Red Bull team boss Christian Horner recently claimed in the Daily Mail that there had previously been “an inquiry” from the Hamilton camp “as to whether there was any interest” in bringing Hamilton to Milton Keynes.
This was immediately denied by Hamilton himself, who claimed that Horner had contacted him. After all, both sides agree that no serious negotiations ever took place. And so Hamilton ended up extending his Mercedes contract by another two years
Hamilton: Would love to drive the Red Bull, but …
The record world champion emphasizes that he hopes to have sent a signal to the team that he is still fully behind the project to bring Mercedes back to the top. “I’m not saying that I wouldn’t like to drive this car [from Red Bull] and experience how good their car is,” he admits.
But for the reasons already mentioned, the task at Mercedes is more appealing to him. Hamilton emphasizes: “I feel like we’ve had two really difficult years and if we work towards beating this car, it will be a much better feeling than just getting in the best car. “
He recalls his move from McLaren to Mercedes at the time and emphasizes: “I enjoyed moving from a more successful team to a team that hadn’t had success yet, with the vision of growing with the team and building it up.”
“Because when we won, it was just a much better feeling,” says Hamilton, who took the risk of switching from McLaren to Mercedes after the 2012 season – even though McLaren finished the season in third place in the world championship and Mercedes only in fifth.
The risk nevertheless paid off, because while McLaren has not won another world championship to this day, Hamilton became world champion six more times, and Mercedes even won the Constructors’ Championship eight times in a row between 2014 and 2021
