Lewis Hamilton admitted he regrets referring to Red Bull as a “drinks company” in an interview 14 years ago.
The Ferrari driver made the admission when speaking to media including RaceFans ahead of this weekend’s race at Silverstone.
“Many, many years ago, I was asked something about – I can’t remember [what],” he explained. “I think I was just so die-hard [for] Mercedes at the time. I remember saying something about Red Bull being only a drinks company.
“I always regretted it because I was just saying that Mercedes at the time were great. I was really just trying to gee up my team. But the truth is, Red Bull have been an incredible team. There are so many people there that are exceptional and they’ve dominated for years.”
Hamilton made the remark in 2011, when he was a McLaren driver, using Mercedes engines. He agreed a deal to join Mercedes’ works team the following year.
“Red Bull are not a manufacturer, they are a drinks company,” said Hamilton in 2011. “It’s a drinks company versus McLaren, Ferrari history.
“I don’t know what their plan is. Our team is building to become a bigger manufacturer, like Ferrari, and I can only see our team being there for a ridiculous amount of time. It is a pure-bred racing team.”
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He made his remarks today when asked whether he would recommend Max Verstappen to join them, following reports Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is making a bid to sign the Red Bull driver.
“Of course,” said Hamilton. “If anyone was going to ask me about Mercedes [I’d say] it’s an amazing team with passion, great personnel, a great factory, a great environment to work in. So, ‘of course’, I would say.
“It’ll be interesting to see what happens.”
Horner has previously said some in F1 hold the team’s background against it. “I think that we’re a subsidiary of an energy drink racing against OEMs and historic brands and of course that does not sit comfortably with some of our competitors,” he said in 2022. Hamilton said the same year Red Bull had “proved me wrong” about his quote.
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