Christian Horner has revealed that he helped Mercedes sign Lewis Hamilton after holding early discussions with the British driver's management about joining Red Bull. In Horner's new book, 'Drive', which goes on sale this Thursday, he says Hamilton showed interest in joining Red Bull when he left McLaren at the start of 2013.
Senior figures at Red Bull, including co-owner Dietrich Mateschitz, were not keen on the move. Hamilton would have replaced Mark Webber and become Sebastian Vettel's team-mate. Vettel had won the last three drivers' titles at the time, and Horner explained on Sky Sports' The F1 Show Podcast that the team had little appetite to disrupt a winning line-up.
Horner recalled that Hamilton was managed at the time by Simon Fuller, who also managed the Spice Girls. He said Fuller had suggested a major sponsorship deal that would have meant Red Bull paying a lot of money, but there was no enthusiasm for it within the team. "We had a winning driver in Seb, did we really need to upset the apple cart?" Horner said.
Horner says he later told Niki Lauda, Mercedes' non-executive chairman, to sign Hamilton after Red Bull chose to keep Vettel and Webber. Lauda is often credited with the signing. Horner said Mercedes, which had only just bought the Brawn team, was struggling, and that Lauda persuaded Hamilton to move after he grew frustrated at McLaren. The turning point, Horner said, was the 2012 Singapore Grand Prix, where Hamilton's gearbox failure while leading was the final blow to his McLaren career.
Source: Sky Sports Champions League · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing