Lewis Hamilton cannot be blamed for considering a blockbuster switch to Red Bull following Mercedes’ failure to provide him with a winning machine, Christian Horner has claimed. Red Bull team principal Horner confirmed on Friday that Hamilton’s father Anthony made an inquiry about the availability of a seat alongside Max Verstappen at the grid’s all-conquering team. Verstappen has won the past three world championships, while Hamilton last took a victory at the penultimate round of the 2021 season in Saudi Arabia. “I have known Anthony Hamilton for 15 years and I don’t think he was enquiring about himself to come and drive,” said Horner of Anthony, who managed his son in the formative years of his career. “I don’t know who represents who, but with the surname you would think they are reasonably close. “Anthony is a good guy, a proud racing father and inevitably when drivers go through tough spots – and Lewis has not won a Grand Prix for two years – questions will be asked up and down the paddock. “Lewis is the most successful driver of all time and he hasn’t won a grand prix since 2021. You have not got to be a rocket scientist to work that out and I doubt I was the only one that an inquiry was made to.” Red Bull will head into the season finale having failed to win just one of the 21 rounds so far. Verstappen has triumphed on 18 occasions – a record for any driver during a single campaign. Hamilton’s Mercedes team are in a state of flux, but the seven-time world champion signed a two-year deal with the Silver Arrows, worth £100million, in August. Sergio Perez is contracted to Red Bull for 2024. On Thursday, Hamilton denied seeking a move to Red Bull and claimed it was instead Horner who approached him. “I have checked with everyone in my team and nobody has spoken to them. However, he (Horner) did reach out to me earlier on in the year about meeting up,” Hamilton said. Horner added: “It is entirely normal for drivers, drivers’ representatives and drivers’ parents to have different conversations during the year. “There was never a seat available and there was never any engagement. There are many drivers we hear from during the course of the year. “We have not had any serious discussions with Lewis and there was never a seat available.” Read More George Russell fastest as rookies handed chance in first Abu Dhabi practice Class action lawsuit filed over farcical start to Las Vegas Grand Prix Toto Wolff fuelled by ‘personal anger’ to help Lewis Hamilton win eighth title On this day in 2010: Sebastian Vettel becomes youngest ever F1 world champion F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix LIVE: Practice updates and times at Yas Marina Christian Horner reveals talks with Lewis Hamilton’s father over Red Bull seat

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Mindy Kaling has declined to answer a question about her weight loss and “wellness journey” after losing a significant amount of weight in the last year. The Mindy Project star, 44, was asked in an interview with Allure Magazine about what she would say to fans who “feel like they’ve lost an ally” because of the change in her physical appearance. It comes after fans speculated that the actor and producer had used Ozempic, a diabetes drug that has been hailed by celebrities and influencers for its weight loss side effect. Kaling told the magazine that it isn’t “super exciting for me to talk about my body and how it’s analysed”. Declining to “get into it”, she added that talking about her weight loss tends to “take over the conversation unfortunately”, adding: “People take it so personally.” The mother-of-two has previously divulged some details about how she lost weight, but has not addressed speculation that she used any sort of medication to do so. The Independent has contacted a representative of Kaling for comment. In April 2022, she told Entertainment Tonight: “I eat what I like to eat. If I do any kind of restrictive diet, it never really works for me. I just eat less of it. “I wish there was something more juicy or dynamic about the way that I’ve lost a little bit of weight, but that’s the way I’ve done it.” Fans began taking notice of Kaling’s weight loss in December 2022, when she shared a photograph of herself wearing a white dress for a holiday party. She wrote in the caption: “I never wear winter white! I was always so worried about it not being flattering and also about dropping food on it.” Last August, Kaling recalled being labelled “unattractive” by the media while starring in The Mindy Project from 2012 to 2017. She opened up about the criticism, saying: “The amount of articles that were like, ‘It’s so good for a culture that this unattractive woman is finally on camera’. “I didn’t know I was so unattractive until I was the star of my own show. So not having to see those things, that’s wonderful.” Kaling has two children, Katherine and Spencer, who were born in 2017 and 2020 respectively. She keeps them out of the spotlight and has not publicly revealed who their father is. However, she reflected on them not growing up with a father figure in an interview with the Duchess of Sussex on the latter’s short-lived Spotify podcast, Archetypes. Kaling told Meghan Markle last year: “I would love for my… I have such a great relationship with my dad. You know, he is, we’re so different from each other. But he is just like, he is everything to me. “I do know that that would be so valuable for my kids, you know, that they have a dad. It wasn’t our lot, you know, our family’s lot in life. And I do think about it with wistfulness and then also fear, like, what will they think when they get older about that?” It was previously speculated that Kaling’s The Office co-star and long-time friend BJ Novak could be the father of her children. However, neither Kaling nor Novak have confirmed this. Addressing the rumours, Kaling said that they don’t “bother” her and said that Novak is “godparent to both my kids”. “It hasn’t affected my happiness at all, it hasn’t affected my kids or BJ. If that’s what is going to be titillating to people, I’ll take it.” Read More Between Brexit and Covid, London’s food scene has become a dog’s dinner – can it be saved? Cruise line apologises after passengers witness dozens of pilot whales being slaughtered Influencer Annabelle Ham dies at age 22: ‘A light to the world’ Cramming all workout into weekend is still effective, scientists say Anorexic woman, 47, who wants to die may soon be able to under Canadian law Coleen Nolan becomes fourth sister in her family to be diagnosed with cancer

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SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 24, 2023--