Horner: “Difficult to imagine Lewis at Red Bull”
The future of Lewis Hamilton at McLaren seems uncertain, and some rumors suggest he might move to Red Bull Racing. However, Christian Horner, the team principal, considers this transfer unimaginable.
After a difficult 2011 season, Lewis Hamilton’s future has been the subject of rumors, especially since the British driver’s contract expires at the end of 2012. The world champion would like a car that allows him to win races and championships. Consequently, he has been announced as a possible replacement for Webber at Red Bull in 2013, if the latter leaves the Austrian team.
But Christian Horner believes there is little chance of seeing the British driver join Red Bull: “I think it’s hard to imagine Lewis in our team. I think he’s comfortable in his current environment, and we are happy with the two drivers we have,” Horner told journalists in Melbourne, as quoted by Reuters.
Furthermore, Red Bull owns two F1 teams – Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso, with the latter aiming to provide drivers from its young driver program the opportunity to access F1 before, if they have the necessary talent, joining Red Bull Racing.
With the arrival of two new drivers – Ricciardo and Vergne – at Toro Rosso this year, Red Bull hopes to find a replacement for Mark Webber in these two men, and the arrival of Lewis Hamilton would clip their wings, which Christian Horner does not want.
We have also made the decision to invest in youth, and we have two very exciting young drivers coming into F1 with Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniel Ricciardo – two very talented drivers who deserve this opportunity. So we are more likely to look internally (to replace Webber) than externally.
Horner also stated that he expected to run the same pair of drivers in 2013, Vettel and Webber, as he does not foresee the Australian driver retiring in the near future.
I clearly don’t think that Mark approaches this season thinking it’s his last year. He is very motivated, hungry, and he sees a future beyond 2012. I think it’s inevitable that when drivers reach a certain age – he’s 36 this year – it becomes logical to take things one at a time, which is what Mark and the team have decided to do, added Christian Horner.
