'He reached out to me' – Hamilton denies approaching Horner regarding possible 2024 Red Bull seat

Lewis Hamilton has denied claims that he approached Christian Horner earlier this season about the possibility of driving for Red Bull, instead saying that the Team Principal made the first contact.

Hamilton entered the season without a contract for 2024 with Mercedes, leading to plenty of media speculation that he could possibly end his decade-long stint with the Silver Arrows, and sign for one of their rivals in the paddock.

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But Hamilton put those stories to bed when it was announced that he had signed a two-year contract extension with Mercedes back in September.

However, this week a report surfaced in which Horner claimed that a member of Hamilton’s representatives contacted him regarding the possibility of the Briton driving for Red Bull in 2024. Previous reports had also claimed that the seven-time world champion had spoken to Ferrari – something which Hamilton denied earlier in the year.

Speaking ahead of this weekend’s season finale in Abu Dhabi, Hamilton was asked about Horner’s comments. He said: “I’ve not approached Christian; I haven’t spoken to Christian for years and no one from my team has.

“I’ve checked with everyone, no one from my team has reached out to him. However, he had reached out to me about meeting up at the end of the season.

“And I was like, ‘I hope you are well; I wish you all the best, congratulations on an amazing season so far, and I hope that I am able to compete with you in the near future.’”

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Hamilton will now turn his attentions to the track where Mercedes face intense competition from Ferrari for second place in the constructors’ championship. They lead the Scuderia by just four points and Hamilton knows he and his team have their work cut out for them if they are to come out on top.

“I mean, I wish we weren’t in the position we were in,” said Hamilton. “I wish we were where we had been, that nice margin for a period of time.

"But I guess it means we’ve got to work harder this weekend and I am definitely excited for the battle. Don’t know what we will be able to achieve, Ferrari are often quite quick here but I’m definitely quite hopeful.”