Christian Horner makes Lewis Hamilton claim as he reflects on recent speculation over Briton's future

Christian Horner has said that he thought Lewis Hamilton would always be returning to Formula 1 in 2022 and that it is great for the sport that that is going to be the case.

A lot of speculation had been written around Hamilton’s future on the back of the controversial finish to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix back in December, with Lewis’ silence on social media fuelling the rumours.

However, he is firmly back in the F1 fold now after helping unveil the new Mercedes for 2022, and Horner believes that it is great for the sport he is coming back, though he had no doubts that that wouldn’t be the case.

Horner said to talkSPORT:

“I think he was always coming back personally.

“He’s such a big personality and he’s such a big name in the sport so of course having Lewis in the sport is a positive thing.

“I think that’s what made last year so valuable. [For Max] to be the first driver to beat Lewis in the hybrid era since 2014 [outside of Mercedes] was such a massive, massive achievement for Max and for the team with the dominance that [Mercedes] have had the last few years.”

Hamilton will be looking to renew his rivalry with Max Verstappen in the coming year as they challenge once more for the championship, whilst the likes of George Russell and Sergio Perez in the sister Mercedes and Red Bull cars will surely want a piece of the action too.