Max Verstappen has claimed that pundits would use age as an excuse if he were to beat Lewis Hamilton in equal machinery as team-mates. Christian Horner revealed ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix that the seven-time world champion’s entourage had enquired about a potential move to Red Bull for 2024.
Horner has discussed the links with the Daily Mail before the paddock arrived at the Yas Marina Circuit for the season finale and his reports were later substantiated by a Red Bull spokesperson, who told the BBC that it was Hamilton’s father Anthony who had initiated the contact between the two parties.
Verstappen and Hamilton shared one of the most iconic title battles in F1 history in 2021 when the World Championship went down to the final lap of the race with the former eventually coming out on top in controversial circumstances. Since then, however, the pair have rarely fought on track.
When presented with the rumours ahead of the weekend, Verstappen wasn’t entertaining them, stating: “I’m not interested. I didn’t know anything when I was asked about it either. It’s just never going to happen. That scenario doesn’t exist.”
Click here to join our WhatsApp community to be the first to receive breaking and exclusive F1 news.
The reigning world champion was then asked whether or not he would like the opportunity to prove himself against Hamilton, to which he replied: “What do I have to prove then? I don’t have to prove anything. Then there will always be excuses, like: ‘He’s too old’.
“It’s never right. There is always something else to talk about. A fight between two teammates is nice, but much nicer is a fight between multiple teams, with all the good drivers in a different car.”
Hamilton was also not entertaining the rumours. When asked about them by Sky Sports F1, he replied: “Yeah I don’t really know where that story has come from,” Hamilton told Sky Sports F1. “I mean I know it’s come from Christian… So I don’t really understand what he’s been talking about.
“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 him on an amazing year and said ‘Hopefully soon I’ll be able to fight against you guys in the near future’. That was it.”
