EXCLUSIVE: Lewis Hamilton held talks with Red Bull and Ferrari about joining before he inked new £50m-a-year deal with Mercedes… and he was even open to joining forces with rival Max Verstappen!

Lewis Hamilton held talks with Christian Horner about joining Red Bull before signing his Mercedes contract.

Mercedes star Lewis Hamilton approached Red Bull about the possibility of joining the team before committing his future to his current employers, team principal Christian Horner has sensationally claimed. The Briton has won six of his seven world titles with the Silver Arrows after spending a decade there, but Horner has revealed he held discussions with Hamilton’s camp after being alerted to his potential availability.

Hamilton signed a new two-year contract with Mercedes along with his team-mate George Russell to take them to the end of the 2025 season after protracted negotiations with boss Toto Wolff.

Speculation was rife that the 38-year-old had opened talks with Ferrari and Red Bull to weigh up his options, although the Italian manufacturer and Hamilton both denied those claims. But Horner has stirred the pot again by revealing that he did hold conversations with the seven-time world champion.

“We have had several conversations over the years about Lewis joining,” Horner told the Daily Mail. “They have reached out a few times. Most recently, earlier in the year, there was an inquiry about whether there would be any interest.

“But I can’t see Max [Verstappen] and Lewis working out together. The dynamic wouldn’t be right. We are 100 per cent happy with what we have.”

Horner has confirmed that 2023 champion Max Verstappen will be partnered by Sergio Perez for the 2024 season, but the Mexican’s future looks uncertain beyond the expiry of his current deal. Along with Hamilton, Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris are the other names to be linked with the seat.

His disclosure is probably going to outrage his partner Wolff, with whom he shares a cutthroat contention. It might likewise incite a reaction from Ferrari, whose group head Fred Vasseur demanded that Hamilton had not been in talks over a £40million-a-year arrangement to supplant Carlos Sainz and join Charles Leclerc from the following year.

It would likewise seem to go against Hamilton’s attestation that he simply at any point needed to remain with Mercedes.

In a video message to Mercedes fans toward the finish of August, soon after putting pen to paper, Hamilton demanded there is ‘no place else I would prefer to be’, however supposedly moving toward Red Bull and addressing Ferrari might make some cast uncertainty on that case.