Marko reveals why Hamilton and Verstappen will never be in the same team
F1 News
In the closing stages of the 2023 Formula 1 season, yet another soap opera presented itself in the sport. Lewis Hamilton, or at least his team, enquired about becoming Max Verstappen's teammate at Red Bull Racing, but Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff claimed it was the other way around. According to Helmut Marko, it is a scenario that will never materialise.
Horner recently suggested that the Hamilton camp was interested in getting a seat at Red Bull Racing before the driver signed a new contract at Mercedes. Instead, it was claimed on that side that Red Bull was trying to pull in the seven-time world champion.
Marko: 'That's why Verstappen and Hamilton will never be teammates'
Who exactly was seeking contact with whom - it all matters little because, according to Marko, the combination of Verstappen and Hamilton at Red Bull was never going to work anyway. "Christian informed me and showed me the text message he received, but I told him: ‘Hamilton and Max, that doesn't work," the 80-year-old Austrian is quoted by Motorsport.com.
According to Marko, too much has played out between the F1 drivers, who have 10 world championships to their names on aggregate. By this, he refers to the 2021 season, in which tensions between Verstappen and Hamilton - and their teams - ran high.
Moreover, there is another factor at play: "And on the other hand, we cannot afford to have the two most expensive drivers in one team. It's just never going to happen. So I told Christian: ‘No way.’," said the Red Bull adviser.