Christian Horner revealed Red Bull have had talks with Lando Norris "a couple of times" since the Brit entered Formula 1.
Norris has spent his entire F1 career so far with McLaren, and is set to remain for a few more seasons yet. Earlier this year, he signed a new deal which will keep him with the team until the end of the 2025 campaign – but only after rejecting the advances of Red Bull.
"Of course there are talks with other people from time to time," he said last month. "You always ask yourself the question: What is the best thing for my career? I want to win and win world championships.
"There have been talks with Red Bull. They are a team that has been in the top three for years. But that just shows even more how much confidence I have in McLaren. Although there were talks, I felt McLaren was better for me to achieve my goals."
He later clarified: "It wasn't like we were talking heavily. Everyone tries to speak to all of the teams at some point so I spoke to them, I spoke to a few other people. But a chat's a chat. It's not like 'What can we do?' straight away. Just keeping in touch and things like that. It's as simple as that sometimes.
"But it was just coming to the end of the contract when you select what options are available, you find out what is possible, what might be possible over the next few years. It wasn't just Red Bull. Every driver has chats with a lot of the different teams on what could happen and it's as simple as that, basically."
Naturally, Red Bull chief Horner was asked about those comments. In response, he revealed there had been more than one occasion in the past that his team has weighed up the possibility of snapping up the 22-year-old.
"We’ve spoken with Lando a couple of times over the years," he said. "But every time we've had a conversation, the next day he's signed a contract with McLaren. He's on a long-term contract with McLaren and looks like he's going to be there for a few more years."
While that is the case, Norris has made it clear he may be convince to look elsewhere if his current team cannot deliver a car capable of winning races. "I have to have faith that my team can do a good job. [2024] will be our first year in which we have no more excuses," he said.
