After Trashing $49M Ferrari Offer, Lewis Hamilton Faced Cruel Red Bull Rejection for Max Verstappen’s Sake

The start of the 2023 season was full of speculations about the future of a lot of drivers, especially Lewis Hamilton. The Brit was in the last contractual year with Mercedes and wasn’t ready to sign. However, before he eventually did, apart from rejecting Ferrari‘s $49 million offer, Hamilton also made a desperate dive toward the Red Bull garage.

We have hardly ever seen a team boast two powerful drivers as Mercedes did back in 2016. However, because of Nico Rosberg‘s early retirement, modern-day F1 has never seen a team house two world champions. This scenario could’ve changed if Red Bull had accepted the offer of Lewis Hamilton. However, for Christian Horner, it was never an option.

Why did the Red Bull boss reject Lewis Hamilton?

As we all know, there can only be one winner in a team, and pairing Max Verstappen with Hamilton would’ve become a recipe for disaster as it did for McLaren back in 2007. Hamilton wasn’t a world champion yet but had the pedigree which caused a massive rift in the McLaren garage. Foreseeing a similar scenario, the Red Bull boss rejected Hamilton’s offer in favor of their world champion.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Horner revealed, “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 inquiry about whether there would be any interest.”

However, the boss wasn’t ready to risk the team dynamics and cause trouble in the garage. “But I can’t see Max and Lewis working out together. The dynamic wouldn’t be right. We are 100 percent happy with what we have,” he concluded.

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Red Bull is very happy with what they have. A co-existing ecosystem that is working out perfectly in their favor. Hungry to win his eighth championship, Hamilton would only disrupt the peace of the Red Bull house.

Perhaps this pairing is not meant to. Even in the past when there was an opportunity, things did not quite work out.

Toto Wolff revealed how they had an opportunity to sign Max Verstappen and pair him with Lewis Hamilton but Red Bull swooped in

The Hamilton and Verstappen pairing got a chance once in the past as well. Back in the day, even Toto Wolff had the option to sign Verstappen and pair him with Hamilton but couldn’t because of the current circumstances. The Mercedes revealed that in a conversation on the F1 Beyond the Grid podcast.

“Max was very good in karting, was good in F3, and it was clear that there’s a big one that’s growing,” he said. “We talked to them in the initial phases, and it was a nice discussion with (his dad) Jos and with Max involved as well.” However, the talks never materialized because of two reasons. “But it was clear that we couldn’t give him a seat because we had Nico and we had Lewis. We offered the support in F2 but, since Red Bull was able to offer them the AlphaTauri seat, or Toro Rosso back in the day, it got Max into the seat,” he concluded.

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It would surely be a mouth-watering scenario to see the two world champions go head to head in equal machinery. However, it’s a scenario that we will perhaps never see regarding the two in F1.