Formula 1 legend Johnny Herbert has laughed off Christian Horner's claims that he met with Lewis Hamilton over a move to Red Bull.
Hamilton was left perplexed when Horner revealed he had held discussions with the Mercedes star over becoming Max Verstappen's team-mate. While Hamilton has denied those claims, the Red Bull boss is sticking to his story, unlikely as it seems.
Horner's claims have split the grid, though Herbert, who raced for Benetton, Jaguar and Lotus among others, has now shot down the Red Bull team principal. Herbert has insisted he 'isn't listening' to Horner over his comments on Hamilton.
“I don’t think anybody was really aware of that, I think a lot of people were saying ‘well that would be the possible right pairing to have’ because obviously in a situation like Lewis was in at Mercedes," he told Genting Casino.
"I think Lewis is very aware, and you mentioned it earlier, Lewis is after the eighth. Now he knows how good Max is, he knows it’s Max’s team, he knows that when he’s been winning the championships that he’s got, generally, he's been the man of that team.
"And you go Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, Alain Prost, Nicky Lauder, Nigel Mansell, the list goes on, they were the leaders of those teams. And the way you win world championships, is to be the leader of the team.
HAVE YOUR SAY! Should Lewis Hamilton stay at Mercedes? Comment below.
"Going into Red Bull, that I don’t think would ever be the case, and I think he’s very aware of that. I’d be very surprised if there was any contact from Lewis’s side and him not knowing that they were doing it, if that was the case.
"He would’ve been very aware. But it is, however people want to take this, very Christian. There’s a lot of things, I don’t really listen to Christian sometimes, and I think that probably was one of them [laughs]."
Herbert also questioned if Verstappen would even consider allowing Hamilton to become his team-mate. The pundit insisted that the three-time world champion would not want a world-class driver such as Hamilton challenging him for the title.
Catch all the action from Formula One on Sky Sports and get exclusive access to races, qualifying and much more for every Grand Prix. From Max Verstappen to Lewis Hamilton, you won't miss a lap on Sky Sports.
"When someone is as good as they are, when they’ve achieved what they’ve achieved, you probably have a little feel of ‘I’d like to do it, just to show that I’m better. But I can still show I’m better in the team that I’m in at the moment’," Herbert added.
"So why would you try and stop your ability of winning more races and winning more championships by allowing someone else to come into your party and take over?
"You don’t do that, the top sportsmen I think in any sport have that selfishness and need to have that selfishness to be able to achieve what they want. For sure Max is on a journey, he’s won three already, and he wants to get eight, maybe nine.”