Lewis Hamilton vs Christian Horner war of words: Who has said what?

Recently, there has been an intriguing indirect back and forth between Mercedes star Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull team principal Christian Horner about whether the former approached the latter for a potential move.

This has led to a series of statements from both Hamilton and Horner along with certain Red Bull spokespersons. While the driver claims that neither he nor any member of his managing team approached Horner or his team, Red Bull remain adamant that they were approached by someone in Hamilton's camp.

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A summary of statements and claims made by Christian Horner, Red Bull, and Lewis Hamilton

It all started when Christian Horner spoke to the Daily Mail UK and dropped a bombshell about how Lewis Hamilton's managing team approached Red Bull in the recent past. He claimed it was for an inquiry about whether the reigning world champions would be interested in signing the Mercedes driver. Horner said:

"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."

Shortly afterward, Sky Sports journalist Craig Slater reached out to Red Bull to confirm Horner's claims. The Austrian-British team stood by their boss and confirmed that a representative from Hamilton's camp did indeed make contact with Horner. Slater said:

"I thought I’d better fact-check it so I got in touch with Red Bull and they say: ‘Yes, absolutely, Christian Horner stands by this. A known Lewis Hamilton representative made contact with him'."

Lewis Hamilton eventually entered the conversation when he was asked about Christian Horner's claims on media day ahead of the 2023 F1 Abu Dhabi GP. The Mercedes driver clarified that none of his representatives ever spoke to the Red Bull boss about a move. The seven-time World Champion also added that he hadn't spoken to Horner in years.

“I know [the story] has come from Christian. I don’t really understand what he’s been talking about because no one, as far as I’m aware, from my team has spoken to him. I haven’t spoken to Christian in years.”

Soon after the clarification, Lewis Hamilton claimed that Christian Horner contacted him about meeting earlier in 2023. The Brit apparently congratulated Horner for a brilliant 2022 F1 season and stated that he hoped to fight against Red Bull once again.

"However, he [Christian Horner] did reach out to me [Hamilton] earlier on in the year about meeting up, but that's it. I just congratulated them on an amazing year and said, 'hopefully soon, I'll be able to fight against you guys in the near future.' That was it. So I'm not really sure, I think he's just stirring things."

Amidst the drama, the Austrian-British team made another bold claim. According to BBC Sport, a Red Bull spokesperson said that it was Lewis Hamilton's father, Anthony Hamilton, who approached the team principal.

Up until now, there haven't been any comments from Anthony Hamilton about the aforementioned claim. Only time will tell how this entire saga will end.