A Sky Sports pundit "dared" Christian Horner to make a move for Lewis Hamilton to give Formula 1 fans the pleasure of a "one-year shootout" with Max Verstappen in the same car.
The pair infamously duelled for the 2021 title with several on-track incidents between the pair before the Red Bull racer controversially came out on top in the Abu Dhabi finale. But, since then, fans have been deprived of any more battling between them because of Mercedes' performance struggles.
Hamilton is in the final year of his contract with the Silver Arrows and a renewal seemed to be a mere formality at one point. But negotiations are yet to yield the desired result and Ferrari are said to have thrown a spanner in the works with a £40m contract offer to join them next year.
The topic was discussed on the latest episode of the Sky Sports F1 podcast. The broadcaster's main presenter, Simon Lazenby, was one of the guests this week and he questioned why Hamilton would entertain uprooting himself to join another team that is not in a position to challenge for the title.
"Having looked at the first five races of the season, I just think why would he bother moving at the moment?" he said. "It's not like anybody else, apart from Aston Martin, have made gains. Christian Horner was saying post-race in Miami 'where are the others?'.
"I understand the lure of Ferrari, but when you look at them for the last 15 years they have been serial underachievers. They've been a team in constant transition. Whereas Mercedes have the pedigree, they made one philosophical mistake and now they're in transition."
Red Bull have been in a league of their own so far this season and, given the size of the performance gap, some have suggested others might not be able to catch up until the next regulation change in 2026. With that in mind, Lazenby feels Hamilton's only shot at the title might be if he were to make a highly unlikely switch to the top team.
He added: "How about this? 2024, that's when Checo's contract runs out, okay? If you're Lewis Hamilton and you want to win an eighth world title, there's only one team you want to be at until 2026 and that is Red Bull.
"I'm not saying this is going to happen but, I dare you, Christian Horner. I dare you, for the sake of everything that's gone before. If Max is like, 'I don't know if I want to stay in the sport', Lewis is getting near to retirement and when we get to 2025 it's the last year of the regulations – why don't we have a one-year shootout?
"It's not going to happen, but it's fantasy stuff."
