For years, Christian Horner had been chasing Mercedes to topple them and take the championship mantle from Toto Wolff. It wasn’t until 2021 that the tables started to turn. While Red Bull still lost the Constructors’ Championship to Mercedes, Max Verstappen did beat Lewis Hamilton for the title. That season took the rivalry between Horner and Wolff to another level. Both team bosses were trading verbal punches like in an intense boxing bout. However, a couple of years since then, Horner has taken a softer and more appreciative tone towards his arch-rival.
On the Secrets of Success podcast, former English cricketer Nasser Hussain asked Horner about his relationship with Wolff. The 50-year-old Briton replied, “Toto, I have a huge amount of respect for everything he has done and achieved, but we are competitors.” Horner then elaborated that he believes one cannot be friends with a competitor.
The Briton thinks it’s simply “dishonest”. He keeps a competitive culture at Red Bull and wants everyone in the team to know the sides they race against are their competitors. Horner believes that if two team bosses are friends, then it can affect their relationship more adversely when their sides get competitive.
While things have calmed down between Wolff and Horner since 2021, they still don’t miss out on any chances of a verbal tussle. Last season, when Mercedes were suffering badly due to the porpoising issue, Wolff was furious. It gave the F1 world an intense and dramatic exchange between the duo, as seen in Netflix’s Drive to Survive Season 5.
Both Horner and Wolff often are at loggerheads about several issues of the sport. However, when things cool off, they too can sit down calmly for a chat or a picture, as seen towards the end of last year in Abu Dhabi.
How does Christian Horner think and act differently from Toto Wolff?
While Toto Wolff is not afraid of expressing his emotions, Christian Horner seems to have more control over them. Horner elaborated on how he noticed the Mercedes boss under pressure when he smashed his headphones in Saudi Arabia in 2021.
Amid all the tension and the heat of the battle on track, he knew everyone was going to feel the pressure coming on them. However, the Briton told Hussain that he “would never smash a set of headphones”.
Regardless, he explained how the pressure that the top boss is feeling will permeate through a team. At such times, emotional outbursts need to be handled delicately, especially in the aftermath of the situation. Hussain then asked Horner if he would not have reacted as Wolff did in Jeddah.
The Red Bull boss stated that “internally”, he would feel the same emotion of smashing something. Horner cited that he would have mentally smashed those headphones. But the 50-year-old mentioned that such an external display of emotion is not his tendency.
It is such contrasting personalities in F1 that make for a great showing for the fans. Every team boss has a different approach and mindset. As they head up the teams’ wagon, their behavior and tussles contribute to the overall narrative of how the teams will battle on track.
While Wolff is known for smashing and breaking things in his office after a bad day, Horner takes things differently. While he is capable of an emotional outburst or even verbally being amused or elated, he chooses to reserve his emotional behavior publicly.
