F1 News: Christian Horner Blasted By Former Driver For "Classless" Comments About Lewis Hamilton Discussions
Speaking on Christian Horner's recent revelations about Lewis Hamilton's father approaching him, former driver Christijan Albers termed the Red Bull boss' behavior unprofessional and "classless" for making a private conversation public.
Just last week, Horner stunned the paddock when he revealed that Hamilton's people had approached him to have the seven-time world champion race alongside Max Verstappen for Red Bull.
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When Hamilton and Mercedes disapproved of his claims, Horner fired another shot by claiming that it was Hamilton's father Anthony who had approached him but the discussion never became a serious one.
Hamilton has always claimed to be a Mercedes man, and such statements coming from the current championship winning team's principal on the grid just casts a poor light on Horner, as per Albers. Expressing his views of Horner and his antics, GPBlog quotes him as having told De Telegraaf’s Formula 1 podcast:
“You know whether it happened or not, that is actually secretly not relevant at all.
“What is relevant is the professionalism you have to exude as a team.
“If you have such a big team under your belt and you are the team boss there with such good results, you don’t need this at all.
“It’s just not done.
“Long story short, I just find it very unprofessional. You have to make sure you are classy and that this stays within the living rooms.”
The ex-driver thinks that Horner's assertions could lead to lasting repercussions, causing other drivers to hesitate before engaging with Red Bull or Christian Horner due to concerns that their discussions might be disclosed to the media. He added:
“You shouldn’t bring things like this out, because now other drivers do watch out.
“They will think twice if they are with a team like Ferrari or Mercedes or another top team and they start talking to another team.”
Speaking to Sky F1 in the Abu Dhabi paddock, Hamilton accused Horner of "stirring things" up. He said:
“I don’t really know where that story has come from.
“I mean, I know it’s come from Christian, so I don’t really understand what he’s been talking about because no one, as far as I’m aware, from my team has spoken to him.
“I haven’t spoken to Christian really in years. However, he did reach out to me earlier in the year about meeting up, but that’s it.
“I just congratulated them on an amazing year and said hopefully soon I’ll be able to fight against you guys in the near future and that was it.
“So I’m not really sure, I think he’s just stirring things.
“There aren’t any confidential discussions. You know Christian, he loves that kind of stuff.”
