Lewis Hamilton has said rumours circulating about Christian Horner being in talks to join Ferrari are “distracting.”
A report this week suggested that ex-Red Bull boss Horner was being courted by Ferrari chairman John Elkann as part of Horner’s quest to return to Formula 1 in a team management role.
Horner, 51, reached a $100 million (£75m) settlement with the team after he was sacked in July, and is keen to return to the F1 paddock.
Ahead of this weekend’s United States Grand Prix, Ferrari’s Hamilton said: “I don’t know where the rumours have come from, so I can’t really shed much light on that.
“These things naturally aren’t helpful. I know everyone back at the factory is working incredibly hard, focused, and these sort of rumours can sometimes be distracting.
When asked whether there was any truth in the report and if it was a good idea for Horner to become team principal at the team, Hamilton simply said: “No, and I’m not going to entertain those [rumours].”
At the Singapore Grand Prix, Aston Martin team boss Andy Cowell said, “It looks as though Christian is ringing up pretty much every team owner at the moment,” before brushing off any suggestion of a link between Horner and Aston Martin. Similarly, Haas F1 team principal Ayao Komatsu dismissed any suggestions he would be joining the team.
In July, Ferrari signed current team principal Fred Vasseur to a new multi-year deal, which ended speculation about his future despite the team’s lacklustre results. Since then, both drivers Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have publicly backed Vasseur.
Hamilton said: “It is a little bit distracting for us as a team. The team have made it clear where things stand in terms of re-signing Fred. Fred and I and the whole team are working really hard on the future of the team.
“For me it is really trying to keep the focus on the goal that’s in front of us and building on next year’s car, really continuing to build a foundation on this year so that next year we can have better execution and better overall performance. [We are] just having lots of meetings to make sure we sail in the right direction.”
The seven-time world champion added that the focus for the last six races of the season will be on squeezing out points and improving the team’s processes for next year.
“There’s been a couple of gems through the weekend that we didn’t capitalise on,” Hamilton said. “And so it’s taking those good bits from it and continue to use what works and then change what isn’t.
“I think it’s continuing to build on the relationships, continue to build on communication. Ultimately, everyone back at the factory really deserves a good result and that’s the sole focus is to get good results. Try to maximise, squeeze absolutely every point we can out of our performances on the weekends. And I really believe that we can do that.”
