Lewis Hamilton has openly admitted to underestimating Red Bull in Formula 1, acknowledging the squad's remarkable gains in the 2026 season as Crash.net reports. Following a tough opening to the new era of regulations after constructing its first-ever in-house engine, Red Bull has bounced back hard with Max Verstappen claiming back-to-back dominant victories in Malaysia and Singapore.
The forty-one-year-old Briton once famously dismissed Red Bull as a mere drinks company back in 2011, though he previously acknowledged that he has always regretted those remarks. Hamilton confessed that the Milton Keynes outfit has proved everybody wrong by delivering a power unit judged to be better than Mercedes or Ferrari during the opening year of its partnership with Ford.
And yet again, they proved us wrong, everybody wrong again, and they built the best engine,
That admission came in response to Isack Hadjar’s claim that Ferrari rather than Red Bull possessed the fastest car last time out in Singapore. Ahead of the United States Grand Prix, Hamilton praised Isack Hadjar as an amazing driver while noting they held different opinions on the matter, before lauding Red Bull for continuously surprising him and succeeding where he once thought no newcomer could against heritage brands like McLaren and Ferrari.
“And yet again, they proved us wrong, everybody wrong again, and they built the best engine,” Hamilton stated regarding his skepticism over whether Red Bull could out-develop powerhouses like Mercedes and Ferrari given their resources, experience, and intellectual property.
Meanwhile, Christian Horner has revealed that secret talks took place with Hamilton before the driver ultimately signed for Mercedes in 2013 after leaving McLaren. In his new book, Drive, Horner claims Hamilton showed interest in joining Red Bull to partner Sebastian Vettel, and even asserts that he helped nudge Mercedes toward signing him by speaking with Niki Lauda during the 2012 Singapore Grand Prix weekend.
