Martin Brundle gives verdict on Lewis Hamilton to Red Bull rumours

Follow us on Google Discover

Martin Brundle has given his verdict on the recent rumours regarding whether or not Lewis Hamilton has held talks about joining Red Bull Racing.

Brundle was joined by Damon Hill and Naomi Schiff to discuss one of the biggest stories in the F1 paddock on Sky Sports F1 (24/11 9:11am).

The Formula 1 silly season where teams and drivers negotiate their futures never really happened this year.

AlphaTauri made the early switch from Nyck de Vries to Daniel Ricciardo – with a brief interlude where Liam Lawson was behind the wheel due to the Australian’s injury.

The only team yet to confirm their full driver line-up is Williams with Logan Sargeant still trying to nail down his spot on the grid for 2024.

However, it emerged this week that conversations between Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull potentially took place and Martin Brundle has shared his verdict on the matter.

Max Verstappen responded to the rumours yesterday and it would certainly shake up the field if the seven-time world champion made the switch.

Both parties believe the other initiated the contact and it would be fascinating to see what really went down between the two parties.

Brundle responds to Hamilton to Red Bull rumours

Asked about the speculation that’s arisen this week, Brundle said: “This little crucible we operate in, a few hundred metres of concrete, the same people, you wouldn’t be doing your job for a driver if you didn’t just check the field out and see what’s out there, have a lever against your negotiations or some options.

“Of course, they don’t want to be seen to talk to other teams, it upsets your team, but for sure they will have had a good chat.”

Damon Hill added: “I’m presuming other people watching us will have jobs and will had to re-negotiate their contracts, so it’s always good to have something else to know what your options are.

“So, as Martin [Brundle] said, you’d be foolish to go in as he did do this year Lewis and go to Toto and say, can I race for you again next year, I haven’t got anything else on the table?

“That wouldn’t be wise, so it’s always interesting and if you can get yourself into better position either pay-wise or competitive-wise, and I think with Lewis it would definitely be competitive motivation rather than the money, then he’d jump at it.”

As Brundle suggests, it would be a surprise if no talks took place between Hamilton’s representatives and Red Bull.

The fact that Hamilton signed a new contract at Mercedes in September suggests anything that was spoken about happened a long time ago.

The task for Mercedes is now to build a car over the winter that can match the speed of the Red Bull.

However, they’ve been able to coast for some time this year and have had a huge head start over the rest of the grid to get even faster next year.