Horner’s bombshell revelation𒁃 in an interview with the Daily Mail that was pꦺublished in the build up to this weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix spiced up the final media day of 2023. 

The Red Bull chief was directly quoted as saying that Hami💦lton had reached out 🎉to the team prior to signing a new two-year contract extension with Mercedes in August. 

Hamilton rejected Horner’s claims on Thursday but Horner has since stood by his comments, insisting that a 𝄹representative of the seven-time world champion’s “management group” contacted Red Bull. 

“They were just expressing interest,” Ho🐼rner told .🔥 “But that’s not unusual, let’s put it that way.”

He added: “Ma🦹ybe it’s slightly awkward for Lewis, obviously, with his own team. It’s not unusual for peop🦩le to reach out.

“I’m not going to go into the🍬 deta🐻ils of the where, who and why, but perhaps they wouldn’t be doing their job if they didn’t.

“I’d be rather surprised i🌄f they hadn’t informed Lewis but you never know how management꧋s work with different athletes.”

Hamilton moved to shoot do꧅wn Horner’s side of the story, claiming: "𝓰No, I didn't approach them… Christian messaged me. 

"I've checked with everyoneౠ in my team, and no one has spoken to them. But they have tried to reach out to us.

“𓃲I picked up my old phone, which I just found at 🗹home, that had my old number on it.

"I switched it on and obviously hundreds of messages came through and I realise♕d there was one from Christian to get together and have a chat at the end of the season…

"I just replied🀅 to him on my new phone. It was after a weekend. It was quite late on that I found the message. It was from earlier on in the year. So, it was lik🧸e months later.”

Hamilton added: "There's a﷽ lot of people here that like to drop my name in many conversations because they know it's going to make waves. 

"If you'r𒊎e a little bit lonely and aren't getting much attention, it's a perfect thing to do. Just mention my name.”