Horner says Hamilton explored a move to Red Bull

Christian Horner says Lewis Hamilton asked about joining Red Bull during a 2012 meeting, but the team did not pursue a deal because of its expected cost. The account appears in Horner’s forthcoming autobiography, Drive, and has not been independently confirmed by the other people described as involved. Horner writes that the meeting took place at Adrian Newey’s home near Ascot, after Hamilton appeared to be considering a departure from McLaren. According to Horner, Hamilton asked what it would take to join Red Bull. Newey, then a senior figure at the team, was enthusiastic about the possibility of pairing Hamilton with Sebastian Vettel. Hamilton ultimately left McLaren at the end of 2012 and joined Mercedes for the 2013 season. He later won six world titles with Mercedes, according to the reports. Horner’s account presents the potential Red Bull move as an alternative that did not proceed, rather than a completed agreement. Horner says the financial demands were a major obstacle. Simon Fuller, who represented Hamilton, proposed what Horner recalls as an exceptionally ambitious commercial deal. Horner says Red Bull would have had to spend a fortune and that, despite the...