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F1: Christian Horner tips Hamilton to knock at Red Bull

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Khatir Soltani
From GMM

Christian Horner has refused to rule out signing McLaren's Lewis Hamilton.

"Any driver-manager doing his job at the moment has been banging on the door," said the Red Bull team boss, on the day Lewis Hamilton announced his career will be handled from now by entertainment manager Simon Fuller.

"Lewis is a great driver. You would think he's not going to be happy having another barren year," Christian Horner is quoted by the Telegraph.

Horner's comments might be regarded as mischief-making, with McLaren's 2011 car currently off the pace of the field-leading Red Bull and Ferrari.

But Lewis Hamilton also had a poor season in 2009 as reigning world champion, while last season the McLaren was not quite a match for the best cars.

Horner suggested it is 26-year-old Hamilton who will therefore be doing the knocking.

"That is not to say we are looking for him to come to our team. We are very happy with the two drivers we have. That is more of a question you would need to put to Lewis," he added.

Christian Horner insisted Red Bull could handle a Sebastian Vettel-Hamilton pairing.

"You would certainly envisage it being quite a busy partnership, but you can never rule it out. From my perspective you always want to have the best two drivers," he said.

For now, Lewis Hamilton says he is happy at McLaren, playing down reports he is disillusioned before even racing the MP4-26.

"It's a long, long year and I have no doubts that we can compete with these guys," he said.



Khatir Soltani
Khatir Soltani
Automotive expert
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