Christian Horner has ruled out Lewis Hamilton ever joining Red Bull as he tips the Briton to stay at Mercedes in 2021.
The six-time champion is out of contract at the end of this year and has admitted he will evaluate his options, the most obvious being a move to Ferrari.
Of course, Red Bull too may have a seat available alongside Max Verstappen, who recently re-signed until 2023, but Horner explained why he won’t be considered.
“He wouldn’t fit into our programme,” he told Reuters. “We have Max. We have always taken the policy of investing in young talent, nurturing and developing that talent.
“Lewis doesn’t fit into that.”
Another driver out of contract is Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who of course won his four F1 championships with Red Bull between 2010-2013.
But the chances of a reunion has also been dismissed.
“It’s difficult to see how two alphas can fit in a team,” Horner added.
“You can see the problem that Ferrari have had. Why would it be any different at Red Bull with two alpha drivers?.
“Same with Lewis at Ferrari or Lewis at Red Bull, that is a very difficult dynamic, especially in a tight competition.”
And that last sentence is why the Red Bull boss expects to see a status quo in terms of Hamilton’s place at Mercedes, even if there is a little disagreement over money.
“Two of the major seats are now filled. Logic would say that he’ll remain in his current team if they can agree terms,” said Horner.
“All the automotive sector have got financial pressure at the moment, so when there are redundancies being made I guess it’s difficult to justify record-breaking salaries.
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“I would assume it will be a normal commercial negotiation between the driver and his team. Ferrari could be a possibility for him, how much is difficult for me to gauge.
“He seems happy in the environment he’s in. If it’s the most competitive environment, why would he want to change that for the sake of driving in a different colour? So I don’t subscribe to that theory.”