Hamilton denies Horner's claim he approached Red Bull about seat

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton denied a claim from Red Bull team principal Christian Horner that he approached the world champions about joining them.

"I've checked with everyone in my team and no one has spoken to them. But they have tried to reach out to us," Hamilton said, according to ESPN's Laurence Edmondson.

Horner was quoted in an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail as saying Hamilton and Red Bull had "several conversations" over the years about him switching teams.

"They have reached out a few times. Most recently, earlier in the year, there was an inquiry about whether there would be any interest," Horner told the Daily Mail's Jonathan McEvoy.

Hamilton, who signed a two-year contract extension with Mercedes in August, said he did exchange messages with Horner earlier this year, but it had nothing to do with him joining Red Bull to become Max Verstappen's teammate.

"Basically, I picked up my old phone, which had my old number on it," Hamilton said. "I switched it on and obviously hundreds of messages came through and I realized there was one from Christian (asking) to get together and have a chat at the end of the season.

"Initially, I just replied to him on my new phone, it was after a (race) weekend, it was quite late on when I found the message, but it was from earlier in the year, so it was months later. I just said 'congratulations on the amazing season and I hope we are able to compete with you soon.' Then he replied repeating the same thing."

Hamilton hasn't won a race this season, while Red Bull has dominated the calendar by winning their second straight constructors' championship. Verstappen also crushed his competition en route to his third consecutive driver's title.