Lewis Hamilton insists he still fully backs Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur despite speculation linking Christian Horner with the Scuderia.
Horner has been out of work since being sacked last summer by Red Bull after 20 years in charge but, in an interview with The Times, acknowledged that working for Ferrari would be “the dream”.
“At this stage in my life, there’s only one team for which I would accept non-participation in ownership,” Horner said. “Would I consider Ferrari? I mean, Ferrari is the biggest brand in Formula 1. It’s the dream. And arguably it’s the sleeping giant of Formula 1.”
Hamilton, meanwhile, endured another frustrating weekend at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and finished in the same spot he qualified for the race: sixth. Then, when asked by Sky Sports F1 about Horner’s comments and whether he still retained faith in Vasseur, the seven-time world champion simply replied: “Yes.”
A follow-up question about whether the team was still united also received a courtesy “yes”, before he insisted the team will “keep trying” as they look to find positive results in the remaining eight races.
“It was a pretty bad race from my perspective, I didn’t really go anywhere,” the 41-year-old said.
“I couldn’t keep up with the guys ahead and I was struggling to keep the guys behind. Just lacking pace today. Generally through the whole weekend, I just couldn’t get the tyres to work. I weaved and weaved and weaved and the tyres just wouldn’t switch on.
“At the end of the first stint, the tyres all of a sudden started to switch on and start working and I started to do the same time as like everyone ahead.
“Then we switched to the next tyre and it wouldn’t switch on the whole last stint of the race so I was just sliding around.”
With Kimi Antonelli, who started in P16, finishing a spot ahead in fifth, Hamilton now trails the championship leader by 103 points and, significantly, is now 37 behind George Russell after the Briton’s victory in Baku.
There was also disappointment for Hamilton’s teammate Charles Leclerc, who finished fourth having started in second place but could not compete with Red Bull’s surprise pace.
The next race is the Bahrain Grand Prix, held at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia as a one-off, next week.
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