Horner’s bombshell revelation in an interview with the Daily Mail that wa😼s published 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 Hamilton had reached out to the team prior to sꦑigning a new two-year contract extension with Mercedes in August.&n🀅bsp;

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 int🐭erest,” Horner told . “But that’s not unusual, let’s pu🐽t it that way.”

He added: “Maybe it’s slightly awkward for Lewis, obviously, w🦄ith his own team. It’s not unusual for people to reach out.

“I’m not going to go into the details of the whereღ, who and why, but perhaps they wouldn’t be doi🧜ng their job if they didn’t.

“I’d be ra🌠ther surprised if t꧟hey hadn’t informed Lewis but you never know how managements work with different athletes.”

Hamilton moved to shoot downꦚ Horner’s side of the story, claiming: "No, I didn't approach them… 🌞Christian messaged me. 

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

“I picked up my old p⛄hone, 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 realised there was one from Christian to get together and have a chat at the en🍒d of the season…

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

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

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