Lewis Hamilton and the shock Red Bull move that leaves F1 with regrets

Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton and the shock Red Bull move that leaves F1 with regrets

Will Hamilton ever join Red Bull?

Dan Ripley Global Editor

Professional F1 journalist and analyst

Monday 10 August 2026 18:44

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Lewis Hamilton has ticked nearly every box in his career, almost certainly bookending his Formula 1 story racing for its biggest teams in McLaren and Ferrari.

Throw in Mercedes, and in an F1 timeline crossing 20 seasons, he has driven for arguably the three biggest teams during his era.

I say arguably because there is one team missing from that list, and sadly it's not Williams as they were already on the downturn once the seven-time world champion made his debut in 2007.

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It's of course Red Bull, a team that for at least half his career, Hamilton has always been a chief rival against.

They arguably stopped him winning titles between 2010 and 2013, and quite memorably in the most painful fashion after the Abu Dhabi 2021 debacle.

Let's not forget either the war between Hamilton's Mercedes and Max Verstappen's Red Bull that season was unreal. We haven't seen anything like it since because it was just that intense.

Mercedes was second choice for Hamilton

So, Hamilton doesn't have many fond memories of Red Bull, but that doesn't mean he didn't want to join them. In fact he didn't want to just join them, he was desperate too, and if he did so it would have changed F1 history forever.

The closest this almost unthinkable combo came was between 2010 and 2013, when Red Bull were dominating F1. During this period, Sebastian Vettel won four straight drivers' championships while Red Bull picked up the constructors' title in each of these seasons.

Nobody could touch Vettel. Fernando Alonso in a sub-par Ferrari came very close in 2010 and 2012 but otherwise the entire pit-lane were scratching their heads over how to stop Adrian Newey's slick and speedy Red Bulls collecting title after title.

For Hamilton, who by this point was becoming disillusioned at life under McLaren, it was a case of 'if you can't beat them, join them,' and so he reached out to then team boss Christian Horner.

Horner rejected Hamilton approach

Horner recounted his discussions with Hamilton to the Daily Mail in 2022. The former Red Bull chief said: '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.'

This seemed like a smart move from Horner, Mark Webber was a good enough second driver for Red Bull to support Vettel (at least in practice rather than desire), and throwing Hamilton into the mix left little to gain if it meant starting an internal war between its top drivers.

Christian Horner rejected replacing Mark Webber (left) with Lewis Hamilton to partner Sebastian Vettel

However, Horner's rejection not only slapped him back in the face but it's one that led to him essentially rolling the red carpet out for Mercedes to dominate from 2014 for the rest of the decade. He encouraged Mercedes chief Niki Lauda to sign Hamilton instead.

Horner's theory was as follows: "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."

The rest is history as Hamilton went on to win every world title but 2016 between 2014 and 2020, while Red Bull ploughed their resources into Verstappen soon after Vettel left for Ferrari.

Hamilton and Red Bull: Round 2

That wasn't the end of it though, as Horner then claimed Hamilton's team reached out to him again in 2023, enquiring about joining to become Verstappen's team-mate.

Horner said: "We have had several conversations over the years about Lewis joining.

"They have reached out a few times. Most recently, earlier in the year, there was an enquiry about whether there would be any interest. "He met John Elkann [Ferrari chairman], too. I think there were serious talks (You're not kidding, Christian!).

"But I can't see Max and Lewis working out together. The dynamic wouldn't be right. We are 100 per cent happy with what we have."

Horner claimed Hamilton was open to leave Mercedes to join Max Verstappen at Red Bull

This though was rebuffed by Hamilton, who claimed: "I don't really know where that story has come from. I mean I know it's come from Christian...

"I don't really understand what he's been talking about because no one, as far as I'm aware, from my team has spoken to him. I haven't spoken to Christian really in years.

"However, 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.

"So I'm not really sure, I think he's just stirring things."

Hamilton even suggested it was Red Bull trying to contact him insisting none of his entourage had approached Red Bull, he said: "I've checked with everyone on the team, and no one's spoken to them, but they have tried to reach out to us.

"Basically, I picked up my old phone which I've just found at home that had my old number on it and I switched it on, obviously hundreds of messages come through and I realised there was one for Christian together and chat at the end of the season."

Hamilton and Red Bull may never happen

What timelines we have missed out on. Imagine Hamilton and Vettel fighting it out for the world championship in the same team. Does Hamilton then stay on and have to deal with a young Verstappen, in a role reversal of how he burst onto the scene at McLaren against Fernando Alonso.

Do Hamilton and Verstappen fight for the championship in 2024 and 2025 against the improving McLarens?

It's a shame we will highly likely never see Hamilton drive for Red Bull, especially as he isn't too far away from the exciting brand they promote. It seems that boat has sailed.

Hamilton will drive for Ferrari in 2027 and possibly 2028 too. Who knows who will be top dogs in F1 by then, and maybe a spot can open up for Hamilton again. For now it looks like being one of F1's lost great driver-team pairings.

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Written by

Dan Ripley - Global Editor

I've been a massive F1 fan since the mid 1990s and continue to study the history of the sport long before that. As an experienced motor sport reporter covering F1, MotoGP and the LeMans 24 Hour race, being part of GPFans has allowed me to work with a diverse team with all sorts of different backgrounds in watching the sport and given me a greater appreciation of F1.

View full biography

F1 Red Bull Lewis Hamilton Christian Horner