Lewis Hamilton admitted he'd "love" to drive Max Verstappen's all-conquering Red Bull car - but has a reason why he'd prefer to beat the Dutchman in a Mercedes.
Hamilton and Red Bull were the major talking point of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend. That was thanks to Christian Horner, who claimed one of Hamilton's entourage had contacted him to see if there might be any opportunities to join the team.
The seven-time world champion denied the claim. But Horner doubled down and said it was Hamilton's father who had got in touch, prior to the Brit penning a new two-year contract extension with Mercedes.
He insists his "legacy" with the Silver Arrows means he has no desire to consider a fresh challenge with another team. Though he did admit he'd enjoy having the dominant machine on the grid like Verstappen has had at his disposal this year.
"Signing [a new deal] has shown my commitment to the team," he said. "Let's be realistic. Every single driver that's racing here dreams of being in the winning car. In my younger days, when I hadn't had a lot of success, maybe in the McLaren days, maybe it would have been a lot more attractive.
"From a racing perspective and my viewpoint on things, when I moved to this team, I enjoyed moving from a more successful team to a team that hadn't had success to a vision of growing and building with a team, because when we did then win it was such a better feeling.
"Every driver here looks at the Red Bull car and would love to drive that car. I'm not saying I wouldn't love to drive that car and experience how good that car is - every driver would feel that - [but] I feel that we've had two really difficult cars and if we work towards being that car, it is going to be a way better feeling than stepping into the best car.
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"It wouldn't do much for me in the sense of stepping into the most dominant car of all time. Working with my team to be able to beat them would be better for my legacy for sure."
Mercedes hope to give Hamilton that more competitive car he craves in 2024, but team principal Toto Wolff admits that they are taking a big risk. He said: "We are changing the concept. We are completely moving away from how we laid out the chassis, the weight distribution, the airflow.
"I mean, literally, there's almost every component that's being changed because only by doing that, I think we have a chance. We could get it wrong also. So, between not gaining what we expect, catching up and making a big step and competing in the front, everything is possible."