Christian Horner lifts lid on 'serious talks' with Lewis Hamilton about joining Red Bull
Johnny Herbert believes deciding the winner in a Formula One team made up of Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen would come down to which driver was ‘most devious’. Debate over who would win if the rivals were paired in the same team has been widespread across the sport over the last few years.
Hamilton was loosely linked with Red Bull earlier in the year. Team principal Christian Horner insisted that the seven-time champion once asked if there was a seat available at Red Bull.
The Mercedes star has since denied making that request and has signed a new contract with the SIlver Arrows, ending speculation over a switch ahead of 2024. However, that has not prevented fans from wondering who would win the World Drivers’ Championship if Hamilton and Verstappen drove for the same team.
Former Sky Sports pundit Herbert has now weighed into the discussion, insisting that the ‘most devious’ would come out on top. But the former driver also believes the set-up would not work in reality.
“I think they’re both aware that, to win races but, more importantly, a world championship is to be number one. There’s your problem because when it was Senna and Prost, it was a very, very hard thing for [then-McLaren boss] Ron Dennis to be able to control,” Herbert told Planet F1.
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“You can’t control it, whatever you try. Even if you stuck them in different rooms for that weekend, you’d still have issues once they get the helmet on and they get on with their race.
“You’re always going to have those incidents that we saw with both of them – once at McLaren, and once at McLaren and Ferrari when Alain had moved on. I think it’s the same thing with Lewis and Max, you can’t have those two elite drivers in the same team because you can’t manage it.”
He added: “Lewis would be very aware that Christian and everybody – Helmut Marko and the rest of the team, Jonathan Wheatley, etc – their main support is Max, because they know Max will deliver.
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“Now can you do that and split that and make it fair for Lewis Hamilton? A seven-time World Champion coming into it? It won’t work.
“I think the drivers know it won’t work. One might think he’s probably got the advantage – I would say that’s Max, because Lewis is going into his team, but I don’t think that’s something that would work.
“It would just turn into an uncontrollable ego mess. Who would come out on top? It would just be the one who’s the most devious, I suppose! That’s the only way if that was ever allowed to happen!”
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