The war of words between Toto Wolff and Christian Horner ramped up substantially ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, mud-slinging from both camps grabbing headlines in the build-up to Baku to the point that Lewis Hamilton suggests the pair square off in a boxing ring.
All week through media channels Horner taunted Wolff, suggesting his counterpart “has finally got some work to do” with Wolff retaliating, in Baku by calling the Red Bull team boss a windbag. All this in the background of the fiercely fought contest between their drivers – Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.
After qualifying on Saturday, during the top three press conference, the two drivers were asked about the feud between their bosses, to which they responded:
- Lewis: We should get them in a ring.
- Max: Yeah, but I think the weight division is a bit of a problem. In the height, the reach…
- Lewis: They’re the same weight, just difference in height.
- Max: I’m mean I’m all for a ring anyway, even in Formula 1 – instead of penalties!
With Red Bull on a high, with the more than handy RB16B prompting ambitions to break Mercedes stranglehold on F1 which they have held for the past seven years, the battle is beyond the factories and race track.
This is personal for Wolff whose team is seeking to make it an incredible 16 titles in eight years, while Horner and the Blues yearn for the good old days when they bossed the top flight, those days ended in 2013.
Verstappen went on to explain the needle between the pair: “It’s Formula 1, there is a lot at stake so everyone wants to win, everyone is competitive, so I guess it’s just a natural thing and it’s good for people to read, right? Bit of fire behind it.”
Hamilton added: “They’re the two top leaders of the teams and they’ve both contributed hugely to the success of both teams and great leaders and of course they’re head-to-head because we are head-to-head in this tight battle.
“We generally just like to do our talking on the track so we’re just keeping our heads down,” added the World Champion.