Mercedes boss Toto Wolff reveals he bought a textual content from Christian Horner after he was fired the place the Brit joked about what the Austrian was doing now that he had left. The 2 staff bosses have been the first rivals within the sport for some time now, and earlier than 2024, when McLaren ended this run, since 2010, solely Horner and Wolff’s groups had received the championship.
The rivalry reached its peak in 2021 when Max Verstappen in Pink Bull and Lewis Hamilton in Mercedes squared off. The battle continued all through the season, and so did the back-and-forth between the drivers and the staff. The back-and-forth, nonetheless, was not restricted solely to the drivers, each Christian Horner and Toto Wolff additionally bought into it and went after one another with snide remarks.
Even past that, the 2 have continued to go after one another. Sadly for Christian Horner, after hitting the peaks of 2023, the staff had a sudden downturn. Since early 2024, the staff has been going via loads of turbulence, and that led to the Pink Bull board firing him.
With Horner leaving the grid for now, the Mercedes boss, Toto Wolff, has admitted that he does miss having his rival on the grid. Speaking to the media, together with Motorsport, Wolff revealed a message he had obtained from Horner the place he joked about what the Austrian was doing now along with his key rival not on the grid anymore. He mentioned,
“He mentioned to me: ‘What are you doing now, since you like to hate me and I am gone!’. It’s kind of ambivalent as a result of, A, his observe report is excellent – some of the profitable in Components 1. So, clearly there are issues he is performed nicely. Inside the staff, I feel he was to a sure diploma, revered in Milton Keynes. However then we did not typically lend a hand or perspective.”
He added,
“So, he is been a beautiful, nice enemy through the years. Am I lacking him? It is fairly unusual to return right here and Christian’s not going to be round. I imply, what are you doing with him not round? That is a bit bizarre. After which you may have the pragmatism of Laurent Mekies. All of the sudden you’ll be able to have a dialog about the long run. We’re simply completely completely different folks, however even your largest enemy is your greatest buddy.”
Mercedes boss clarifies his comment about Christian Horner becoming a member of Flavio Briatore at Alpine
Within the pre-race press convention, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff had mentioned that he would like to see Christian Horner be part of Alpine and return to the grid in partnership with Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone. Speaking to the media, the Austrian was requested to elaborate on the feedback he’d made, to which he mentioned that having these protagonists tends to carry higher competitors and make issues enjoyable as nicely. He mentioned,
“What I mentioned is that each film wants the nice, the unhealthy and the ugly. Now the unhealthy is gone, it is solely Fred [Vasseur at Ferrari] and I left… It took Fred some time to consider that. The game wants that. Previously we had these huge characters and I hope that a number of the new staff principals are going to develop into these roles in an genuine approach, as a result of you’ll be able to’t pretend it.”
He added,
“Christian was a kind of protagonists. He was outspoken, he was controversial, he was an ass, and he cherished to play that function. You want an asshole, folks have to hate somebody.”
With Christian Horner gone, the Mercedes boss is the longest-serving staff boss on the F1 grid. He joined the staff in 2013 and is now the one one to have been round in the course of the naturally aspirated period of V8 engines.
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Edited by Charanjot Singh Kohli
