Lewis Hamilton admitted he regrets referring to Purple Bull as a “drinks firm” in an interview 14 years in the past.
The Ferrari driver made the admission when talking to media together with RaceFans forward of this weekend’s race at Silverstone.
“Many, a few years in the past, I used to be requested one thing about – I can’t bear in mind [what],” he defined. “I feel I used to be simply so die-hard [for] Mercedes on the time. I bear in mind saying one thing about Purple Bull being solely a drinks firm.
“I at all times regretted it as a result of I used to be simply saying that Mercedes on the time have been nice. I used to be actually simply attempting to gee up my group. However the fact is, Purple Bull have been an unimaginable group. There are such a lot of individuals there which might be distinctive they usually’ve dominated for years.”
Hamilton made the comment in 2011, when he was a McLaren driver, utilizing Mercedes engines. He agreed a deal to affix Mercedes’ works group the next 12 months.
“Purple Bull usually are not a producer, they’re a drinks firm,” mentioned Hamilton in 2011. “It’s a drinks firm versus McLaren, Ferrari historical past.
“I don’t know what their plan is. Our group is constructing to turn into an even bigger producer, like Ferrari, and I can solely see our group being there for a ridiculous period of time. It’s a pure-bred racing group.”
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He made his remarks in the present day when requested whether or not he would advocate Max Verstappen to affix them, following studies Mercedes group principal Toto Wolff is making a bid to signal the Purple Bull driver.
“In fact,” mentioned Hamilton. “If anybody was going to ask me about Mercedes [I’d say] it’s a tremendous group with ardour, nice personnel, a fantastic manufacturing unit, a fantastic setting to work in. So, ‘after all’, I’d say.
“It’ll be fascinating to see what occurs.”
Horner has beforehand mentioned some in F1 maintain the group’s background in opposition to it. “I feel that we’re a subsidiary of an vitality drink racing in opposition to OEMs and historic manufacturers and naturally that doesn’t sit comfortably with a few of our rivals,” he mentioned in 2022. Hamilton mentioned the identical 12 months Purple Bull had “proved me fallacious” about his quote.
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