Lewis Hamilton answered with a single word when asked about Christian Horner's public interest in leading Ferrari, offering his backing to current team principal Frederic Vasseur after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Horner, the former Red Bull chief who has been out of Formula One for more than a year, told The Times he would strongly consider accepting if Ferrari offered him the team principal job, even without equity in the team. He had earlier targeted a 24 percent stake in Alpine, but majority owner Renault ruled out any Horner-led consortium purchasing that portion.
Hamilton backs Vasseur
Asked by Sky Sports reporter Craig Slater to assess where Ferrari stands and whether the team remains on a good path under Vasseur, Hamilton simply said: "Yes." He then nodded when asked more explicitly if he continues to back the Frenchman.
Horner said: "I've been a hired hand. I did 21 years sitting on the pit wall. I don't need to go back to that. At this stage in my life, there's only one team for which I would accept non-participation in ownership. Would I consider Ferrari? I mean, Ferrari is the biggest brand in Formula 1. It's the dream. And, arguably, it's the sleeping giant of Formula One."
Struggles continue in Azerbaijan
Current Ferrari chief Vasseur was unwilling to entertain the topic, jokingly telling reporters they would have to ask his assistant for an answer.
It was another uninspiring weekend for the Scuderia, who continue to struggle compared to their rivals. Charles Leclerc qualified second but dropped out of the podium places, finishing fourth even after Oscar Piastri took himself out of the running, while Hamilton was two places further back in sixth.
Hamilton said: "It was a pretty bad race from my perspective, I didn't really go anywhere. I couldn't keep up with the guys ahead, and I was struggling to keep the other guys behind. We were just lacking pace today and, generally, through the whole weekend, I just couldn't get the tyres to work.
"I weaved and weaved and weaved but the tyres just wouldn't switch on. In the race, at the end of the first stint, the tyres all of a sudden just started to switch on and start working and I was doing the same times as a couple of the guys ahead. And then we switched to the next tyre and I couldn't switch them on for the last stint of the race, so I was just sliding around."
