Christian Horner has said he has "never once" heard Lewis Hamilton publicly pay tribute to Max Verstappen's talent as he reflected on the needle between the two 2021 title rivals.
Hamilton and Verstappen were in a league of their own throughout last year as they fought for the title. But as it became clear neither was going to give up too much ground to the other, things between them started to turn ugly.
There were several on-track collisions, most significantly at Silverstone and Monza, and even more words fired at each other away from the circuit. The tension even spilled over to their team principals as Horner and Toto Wolff took shots at each other.
Despite all that, Horner insists Verstappen and Red Bull have plenty of respect for all seven-time world champion Hamilton has accomplished in Formula 1. "I think there has always been a respect there, you can't not respect everything Lewis has done and achieved in this sport," he told F1's Beyond the Grid podcast.
"It is remarkable and probably never to be bettered. But everybody is beatable at some point in time and Max had respect for Lewis but he wasn't in awe or afraid of him, and relished going up against him, the opportunity to go wheel-to-wheel racing with him.
"Ultimately, he believed he could beat him and it was that inner belief and self-confidence that on so many occasions, you saw come through." But even though he and Verstappen think highly of Hamilton, Horner is not convinced the Mercedes star has quite so much respect for the Dutchman.
He pointed to the much more amicable – though far less tense – title battle between Verstappen and Charles Leclerc this season as an indicator of that. "There is perhaps a different respect with Charles, they raced each other as kids and there is mutual respect," he added.
"I have never once heard Lewis recognise Max's ability so, of course, there was just a little more needle to it. You could see that and sense that between those two drivers."
In the same interview, Horner claimed Hamilton had been "rattled" by Verstappen as he was a "young kid" who was capable of going toe-to-toe with him. He claimed: "I think [Verstappen was in] Lewis' head, because he's a seven-time world champion... he has everything to lose. Max is the young kid that's taking the risks, that's throwing everything at it and has got nothing to lose."
