Lewis Hamilton sends retirement message after Christian Horner dropped F1 bombshell

Red Bull chief Christian Horner recently claimed he'd rejected the chance to sign Hamilton before the Brit penned a new deal with Mercedes earlier in the year, with his comments setting the Formula One world alight.

A historic eighth F1 crown continues to evade the Briton, who is currently preparing for this weekend's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

And Hamilton has now made it clear he's eager to win again, though insists he's capable of doing that at Mercedes.

“You approach every year exactly the same. Still prepare myself, still train,” the Stevenage-born driver said.

“If anything, you deep dive a bit more, you try to pay attention to more.

“I think through adversity and through this experience for two years, I feel like I’ve learned a huge amount as a driver – not necessarily on track but particularly off track in terms of how I engage with everyone and I like to think that’s a real positive.

“The excitement goes, but when you first get that win it’s amazing.

"But if you have it all the time [it’s not the same].

"Of course, I want to win again.

"I do feel like when we do win again, the feeling is going to be even greater because everyone’s struggled.”

Hamilton also took aim at Horner, too, suggesting the Red Bull chief was bored by Verstappen's success.

“When you have so much success, no matter how hard you try it’s hard to keep things in perspective,” he added.

“I even hear it in Christian Horner’s voice when Max [Verstappen] wins, he doesn’t know what to say he’s like, ‘Here we go again. Good job, Max. Good job’.”

Hamilton joining Red Bull is something that has been mooted for a number of years.

Horner, however, has never been keen on the idea.

He knows having Hamilton in his side would boost Red Bull's chances of continuing to dominate given how far ahead they are.

But he's long worried about the prospect of having both Hamilton and Verstappen challenging for the F1 Drivers' Championship.

Hamilton previously had a rocky relationship with Nico Rosberg while the pair worked at Mercedes.

And his best partner was Valtteri Bottas, who was more than happy for the Briton to be the Silver Arrows' main man.

Horner, speaking to the Daily Mail, revealed 'several conversations' having taken place over the years about Hamilton changing his allegiance.

But it's something he's now made clear will never happen, saying: "We have had several conversations over the years about Lewis joining.

"They have reached out a few times.

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"Most recently, earlier in the year, there was an inquiry about whether there would be any interest.

"He met John Elkann (Ferrari chairman), too. I think there were serious talks.

"It was around Monaco (in May). There were definitely conversations, perhaps with Vasseur, too. But certainly with Elkann.

"But I can't see Max and Lewis working out together.

"The dynamic wouldn't be right. We are 100 per cent happy with what we have."