Horner tips Hamilton to knock at Red Bull

By Motorsport.com/GMM

Christian Horner has refused to rule out signing McLaren's Lewis Hamilton.

Christian Horner, Red Bull Racing, Sporting Director, Adrian Newey, Red Bull Racing, Technical Operations Director

Photo by: xpb.cc

"Any driver-manager doing his job at the moment has been banging on the door," said the Red Bull team boss, on the day Hamilton announced his career will be handled from now by entertainment manager Simon Fuller.

"Lewis is a great driver," Horner is quoted by the Telegraph. "You would think he's not going to be happy having another barren year."

Horner's comments might be regarded as mischief-making, with McLaren's 2011 car currently off the pace of the field-leading Red Bull and Ferrari.

But Hamilton also had a poor season in 2009 as reigning world champion, while last season the McLaren was not quite a match for the best cars.

Horner suggested it is 26-year-old Hamilton who will therefore be doing the knocking.

"That is not to say we are looking for him to come to our team. We are very happy with the two drivers we have. That is more of a question you would need to put to Lewis," he added.

Horner insisted Red Bull could handle a Sebastian Vettel-Hamilton pairing.

"You would certainly envisage it being quite a busy partnership, but you can never rule it out. From my perspective you always want to have the best two drivers," he said.

For now, Hamilton says he is happy at McLaren, playing down reports he is disillusioned before even racing the MP4-26.

"It's a long, long year and I have no doubts that we can compete with these guys," he said.